Lise
by AzumeRiver
Summary: Lise, one of the first Gladers from Group B, and one of the last. This is her story, and those around her.
1. Chapter 1: Prolouge

The thing lurches to the side, dragging the girl along its destructive course to nowhere.

She tries to cry out, but her voice is caught in her throat. Her head slams against the cold metal grating, and she can barely utter a sound.

It's terrifying.

Her mind is blank. A complete slate. There's nothing there. There should be something there! Why can't she focus on anything? She can only feel the cruel metal grates beneath her, pulling, pulling, pulling her away. Away from what? She doesn't know. _She doesn't know!_ Why isn't anyone there? Why is she alone? Was she always alone? Was there ever anyone else? All she can feel is a void, a dull blank hole inside of her where something used to be.

She begins to shake, her body trembling in time with the thing as it turns sharply, throwing her against the walls like a ragdoll, pathetic and limp. She is completely helpless; why can't she move? _Why?_ She needs to scream; she needs to speak; she needs to get out. _Get out!_

Her head hurts, it hurts so bad. It pounds and ravages in a desperate search for something that isn't there. What isn't there? _What is it?_ She doesn't know anything - she is hopeless. She can't even move.

She begins to claw at her face, her eyes, her hair; Anything to make it stop. It won't stop. _It won't stop!_ It continues its journey, guttural creaks resounding within her in a frenzied chorus, unending. The sounds, the loud bolts, intruding her mind, forcing their way through her ears. She clamps her hands over her ears, squeezing. She needs to block it out. It's still there. _Why won't it go away?_ She can still hear the terrible buzzing, the organized chaos. It's horrible, slithering into her body, targeting all her most sensitive parts. Everything hurts; her hands feel numb and rough and sting painfully. They lie limply at her sides. It's useless. It won't work.

She has to lie still, pretend the nothing is not there. If she stays still, it will go away. If she doesn't move, it will go away. It was never there in the first place. She's alone. Completely alone. It's just her, nothing else. The thing is not there, constantly moving and pushing her into nowhere. She's not drowning in nothing, the rancid air pressing down on her, the walls enveloping her like water, blanketing her like compressed air.

Then there's something. In her despair, the girl glimpses it. A flash. A shard of broken glass, shattered from her memories. As soon as she sees it, she wishes she hadn't. A face. An inhuman face. A disgusting face. It is brutally distorted; green pus pulsating in gloops from a gaping red wound, pouring out in bursts of froth. One of the eyes is gone, and in its place a thick red mess of blood, all tangled up with strings of muscle hanging from the empty socket. The mouth split into a crazed grin, showing no teeth but layers and layers of torn up flesh, peeling from the stretched hole that served as a mouth. The girl knew the face. _It was someone she knew!_

The girl channels her strength to bang her fists against the cold metal grate, scrunching her face up in her effort to remember. She lets out a guttural howl, forcing her mind to work. It needs to work, she needs to remember! She screams at herself, unaware she is screaming out loud as well.

 _"Work! Work! Please! Oh please! I just- I just! Please! Work! Oh please! Pl-please."_

At this point, she realises she is crying. Sobbing her heart out, all the pain mounting until it breaks. All of her frustration - she needed _them_ to hear her. Them, the awful, awful _monsters_ who put her in the thing. The people who left her with nothing. Who would do this to her? What had she done wrong? She was sorry. _She was sorry!_ Please, if they could just let her know what she'd done! No-one deserved this, the torture of the thing. The isolation, the confusion, the nothing.

 _"I hate you!"_ She shrieks feverishly, her voice breaking with emotion. _"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"_

The girl repeated this over and over again in her head, as if she did it enough times they would surely hear her. They had to.

But there was no use. She curled up into a foetal position, recoiling into herself as if she could shield her heart from the pain of nothing.

She didn't know how long she'd been in the thing for. She'd tried counting and had reached a thousand before the thing suddenly stopped shaking. The girl also stopped her internal chanting, caught off guard by the complete silence. All she could hear was her own uneven and laboured breaths, and the fast, irregular pounding of her heart in her throat.

The thing opened from above, and the girl was blinded by a bright light seeping into her. She closed her eyes tightly, suddenly desperate for the familiar darkness of the thing once more. It was too bright. _It was too bright!_

"Oi, Harriet? I guess we really are getting people from the Box thing."

The girl gingerly opened her eyes, saw the silhouette, and fainted.

* * *

 **A.N: So I'm new at this, and I hope you like the prologue/first chapter! There's much more to come so stay tuned! Feedback is definitely welcome, and so is constructive criticism. This is my first fanfic on here so cut me some slack for mistakes, yeah?**

 **Good that!**

 **\- Azume**

 **xoxo**


	2. Chapter 2: Beth and Harriet

The girl awoke in a small room. She was on a rough mattress - small, thin and narrow - and every time she shifted her position slightly the metal frame beneath her creaked so deafeningly loud. She looked around, blinking. The room was as bare as it was minuscule, with only her mattress and a sloppily made pine trunk discarded near the door, or what little was left of it. The door was just a slanted frame, with narrow slabs of wood peeling off from it and collecting in a miserable pile on the floor. The floor was made of long wooden planks, with thick nails sticking up spitefully from each intersection point. The planks surrounding her mattress were a weary ashen grey, worn and drained of all colour, as if someone had been pacing around the mattress. She heard heavy footsteps heading briskly towards her, step, step, stepping on the uneven floorboards, making them squeal in utmost protest. The footsteps stopped, and the girl sucked in a breath, her heart beating rapidly as a bead of sweat slid down her neck. She tilted her head slightly, and recognised the same silhouette from before, the one she was terrified of. She _knew_ it was the same person; they had the same slender figure, the same rough edges to the shadow and the same haughty posture. The person sauntered into the room, and the girl found herself shaking violently, recoiling from the person's face. She clamped her hands over her mouth, bit her lip hard, and squeezed her eyes shut. The girl couldn't push the traumatizing image from her mind. It lingered there, poisoning her senses with its haunting grin. It was real, she was sure of it, and this person might look _exactly the same._

The person approached the girl confidently, and she found herself whimpering in fear. She didn't want to see it again, to relieve the terrifying memory that was not fading. It imposed her mind, the only thing she could remember; the only thing she couldn't forget. The person - now at the foot of her bed - snorted.

"At least you're not screaming, Greenie."

The girl tentatively opened her eyes. The voice didn't sound vicious, just mildly bemused. A tall girl who looked not much older than her loomed over the metal bed, staring down at the girl. She had blond hair; it was as yellow and stringy as corn but covered in such a heavy coat of grime that it looked brown. She had a thin face with high cheekbones, giving her amused expression a touch of permanent arrogance. Her eyes were a murky grey and seemed to bulge from their sockets, contradicting the sarcastic nonchalance etched on her face. The girl grinned, but it was strained and didn't reach her unreadable eyes.

"I know, Greenie's a stupid name." The older girl rattled. "I keep telling Harriet it should be Sticks but she won't listen to anyone except Sonya. And all Sonya cares about is muttering some name under her breath, it sounds like she's doing some voodoo magic and klunk, I dunno. She says it's an animal, what does she say again? I don't think it's a slug. Salamander is a no go. Nah, its definitely not that icky. And its _not_ a frog. Sure Sonya's pretty jacked, but she wouldn't mutter frog before she sleeps at night."

The older girl looked expectantly at her junior. When she was greeted by a hanging silence, the older girl let out an exasperated sigh - thick brows scrunching together in frustration - as if the Greenie was supposed to have understood everything she'd said.

"Oh, right!" The older girl smacked herself on the forehead, hard. "You're new here, stick. I'm Beth, and you're in hell."

The Greenie sat up from the mattress promptly, wincing at the surge of pain from her abdomen. The bed squealed in pain beneath her, and the girl jumped, putting her hands over her head. The older girl - Beth - threw back her head and laughed, a shakily nervous laugh, tinged with concern.

"Don't look so frit, newbie, I was just kidding you." Beth smiled, glancing the Greenie up and down. She took in her dishevelled brown hair; her hollowed face and her haunted green eyes, widened in unadulterated fear. "You've been in the wars, eh?"

The Greenie choked out a single word, gripping the bedframe for support. "W-wars?"

"So." Beth confirmed with a nod of her head. She pulled back her grimy hair and pointed to a jagged scar running from the back of her ear to the bottom of her jaw; The Greenie flinched at the thin trail of dark liquid oozing through a tear in the scar. "They messed me up when they did it, them sticks." Beth stated, glaring at the wall behind the Greenie. The Greenie herself just stared transfixed at the blood, feeling her head start to pound. It was happening again. The bare walls, they were moving, morphing into the metal grates of the thing again. She was shaking, being pushed away from light and into the dark nothingness. The broken metal bedframe became more metal grates, digging into her fingers as she tried to stay connected with something. Anything. She was in there again, alone, alone, alone.

Beth tapped the Greenie gingerly on the shoulder. "Hey," She grumbled, annoyed at her silent companion. Beth tried to tap her again - harder this time - but the Greenie recoiled from her touch. She was lost in her mind, drowning in nothingness. She started to rock, drawing her knees to her chest and hugging them tightly. "Hey!" Beth shouted, almost slapping the newcomer across the face.

The Greenie blinked, her eyes clearing slightly as she struggled to remember where she was. They suddenly shut forcefully, her forehead creasing with the sheer effort of blocking out Beth's cries. She was alone, _nobody_ could help her. The Greenie grabbed at her head - as if she was possessed by an uncontrollable force - and began to claw at her hair, tearing clumps of caramel from her scalp.

"Stop it!" Beth yelled frantically, clutching the Greenie's wrists fiercely and dragging them away from her hair. "You're going to shucking rip your head off! Harriet? _Harriet!_ HARRIET!"

Beth whipped her head around when another girl ran into the room, cursing under her breath. This girl was relatively clean, with rich brown skin and not a hair out of place in her impeccable braids. She had dark eyes, and her face was unreadable as she stood behind Beth, taking in the scene with narrowed eyes.

"Is this the Greenie?" The new girl commanded, striding purposefully towards Beth who shifted into a defensive stance.

"Yeah, toss." Beth replied snarkily, cocking her head towards the Greenie. "Now, a little help, Harriet?"

Harriet curled her lip, her eyebrows raised. "Why?"

"Cause this _Greenie_ of yours is jacked up!" Beth cried out in exasperation, dropping her firm grip on the Greenie to throw her hands in the air. She kept her grey eyes focused on Harriet, fixing the girl with an accusatory stare.

"You know what else is jacked up?" Harriet growled, advancing slowly on Beth. "Your toss loving, shuckfaced-"

The Greenie suddenly sat up, her body rigid and unnatural.

"Lise."

Harriet paused in her cursing and Beth froze in her yells of outrage. They both looked at the Greenie, confusion etched on their faces.

"My name... it's Lise."


	3. Chapter 3: The Glade

**A.N: I forgot about a DISCLAIMER. I don't own anything except for my OCs! And on we go!**

* * *

"Lise, huh?" Beth was the first to recover, shooting the girl a wide grin. "How'd you figure that one out, shank?"

Lise bit her lip, averting her eyes from the two gazes locked onto her. She wasn't sure how she knew. She was in such a dark place a few moments ago, struggling to breathe; so unable to return to reality that she must have triggered some mental response, forged rope that kept her tied to reality, that preserved her sanity. The rope came in the form of a name, a connection with the real world.

"I-I'm not sure." Lise said quietly, choosing to keep her feelings to herself. She didn't know these strangers, they could be dangerous. They could be-

"Harriet." The second girl announced in her husky voice, presenting a hand to Lise across the mattress. She tentatively grasped Harriet's calloused hand, and they shook briskly, Harriet leading.

"W-who are you?" Lise rasped, her dry voice catching in her throat as she shakily sat up on the mattress. She looked at her fingers, nails bitten down to their beds and bloody, clutching the mattress. She felt so vulnerable, sprawled out on a mattress and barely able to move. These girls, they looked so strong, able to snap her like a twig if she even thought about resisting against them. _But what exactly was she resisting?_ She may not know these people, but they haven't tried to hurt her yet, and they provided her with a bed, as uncomfortable as it was. They gave her their hospitality and in return she graced them with nothing but distrust and fear.

"I already told you, stick-" Beth began with a sigh, only to be smoothly cut of by Harriet.

"We're what we like to call Gladers." Harriet said with a smirk, winking at Beth as she rolled her eyes. "You see, because we live in the Glade."

"So." Beth affirmed gruffly, with a reluctant nod.

"The Glade?" Lise repeated, unsure what to make of the foreign word.

Beth furrowed her brows, her eyes flicking between Harriet and Lise, their deep grey iris' clouded as she mulled over her unsaid response.

Once again, Harriet was quickest to answer, speaking just as Beth opened her mouth. She fixed Lise with an unreadable look, her dark eyes scanning over her face like sensors, looking for any sign of deception that could be read in her features.

"The Glade is exactly what it's called." She said simply.

"If you're feeling up to it, stick," Beth spoke over Harriet, her eyes dancing with mirth as she caught the look of disdain on said girl's face. "I could give you a short tour, I mean there's not much to see but-"

"Go ahead, Beth." Harriet said, shoving the other girl roughly in the direction of the doorframe. "Go take Lise on a tour and introduce her to Sonya."

"Fine!" Beth pouted, turning around as she stumbled at the foot of the door. She made eye-contact with Lise and her face split into a cocky grin. "Come on, shank!"

Lise pushed herself off the mattress, her whole body swaying. Her mind was overwhelmed, full of an immense curiosity and fear of the unknown. The fear was so impending, like a dark shroud hanging over her and blocking her free will. But the curiosity outweighed the fear. Lise slowly walked towards Beth, her hands out horizontally as if to steady herself. She approached the girl gingerly, self conscious of how slow she was being. Lise just couldn't seem to go any faster. Her legs were like lead, heavy and weighed down by the hard wood beneath her. Once she was arms length away from Beth (Which didn't take long considering the size of the room) Lise stood still. Beth was quite tall, even if Lise wasn't lying on a mattress. Beth towered over Lise, at least a head and a half taller. She reached out a hand and took Lise's palm in her own, and confidently led her out the doorframe, ducking her head to avoid injury.

Beth spun around to face Lise, throwing her arms out grandly. "This is the Glade!" She announced proudly, gesturing at the wide expanse of green behind her.

The field spread out into the distance, plain and featureless, swaying with the light wind. The grass was so even, each blade the same length, it seemed unnatural. And the colour, an emerald green so bright that Lise was almost sure that grass should be more washed out, weathered down by the seasons passing by. But Lise couldn't remember grass, or what the seasons looked like, so she kept her mouth shut and didn't mention it to Beth. In the distance there was a cluster of trees, surrounding the far corner of the Glade. They were dark and foreboding, so tightly knit together that they looked like they were woven by thread, entangled in each other. Lise could hardly tell one individual tree from the next, or where one began and the other ended. The Glade was bare, with only those two features and the small shack Lise and Beth had just exited.

But there were walls.

Giant grey stone surrounded the Glade from all sides, penning them in as if they were wild animals that needed to be caged. The walls were thick and permanent, covered in moss and towering above the skyline and into the clouds. They had an aura surrounding them, one that drew you in as much with wonder just as much as it pushed you away with fear.

Lise's breath caught. The walls were like the thing, keeping her firmly inside and locked away from anything familiar or comforting. She was in the thing again, shaking and pulling her into nowhere. Nowhere.

Lise breathed heavily, her head swimming. Her ears were pounding, the creaking and rotating of the thing flooding into her mind. She needed to calm down.

 _Calm down._

Lise looked frantically at Beth, who had her eyebrows creased in worry again, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She was preparing to get help from Harriet once more, because Lise was too much to handle. Lise was unstable, lost in her own world of darkness and unfamiliarity. She needed to tie herself down, keep herself from falling into despair once more. She needed a rope to reality.

"Lise." She said purposefully, sounding the word out. Her name was real. It was what she remembered. "My name is Lise."

"I know-" Beth muttered.

"You're Beth." Lise reminded herself of another person who was real, who was not a phantom of her mind, a pure imagination. Beth was real, she'd held Beth's hand. Beth's calloused palms, her dirt caked fingernails, she was real. "We're in the Glade."

Beth nodded. "Are you okay?"

Lise sent Beth a long searching look. Everything about her seemed genuine at that moment; her wide grey eyes, her wrinkled forehead, her bitten lips, the edge to her tone. "Yeah, thanks. I-I just needed a reminder that this is real."

Beth sighed, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "Don't go scarin' me like that again, toss."

Lise bowed her head meekly. "I'm sorry."

"It was them walls, wasn't it? You were reminded of the Box."

Lise looked up, shocked that Beth had sussed her out so quickly.

Beth smiled sadly. "We're all like you, stick. Me, Sonya, even Harriet came out from that Box over there."

She pointed to a square of metal in the field, where a gaping black hole was.

"We were trapped in it, you know? Then we come out and see the Maze, and it's like we're back inside again."

She let out a laugh, and Lise was surprised at how bitter it sounded.

"Them sticks. Putting us in here like we're not worth klunk."

Lise channelled her courage and lightly tapped Beth. She turned around, and raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"What's the Maze?"

Beth scowled. "We're in it, Greenie."

* * *

 **A.N: So yeah, chapter 3. Beth is not an OC by the way, Aris mentions her to Thomas somewhere. Because she's basically Gally.**

 **Reviews help!**

 **\- Azume**


	4. Chapter 4: Sonya

"This whole place is a Maze." Beth said darkly, her grin vanishing. "We're at the centre."

Lise was speechless. A maze? How? Beth couldn't possibly be serious, yet her usual smile was non-existent, replaced by a thin line. In her short period of time knowing her, Beth had never once stopped smiling - even when Harriet and her were fiercely arguing - except for now. She was as serious as the grave.

"That's the only thing we can think of." Beth continued, setting off at a brisk pace towards the forest in the distance, bordering the thick grey walls. Lise stumbled after her, straining her ears as Beth spoke on, her hurried speech keeping pace with her stride. "I mean, why else would we be put in the middle of a shucking grey square?"

"Do you know what's outside those walls?" Lise questioned in a small voice, her tone wavering.

Beth scoffed, rolling her grey eyes. "Course, toss. I went out to see for myself. I'm tellin' you, it's a maze, with twisting walls and everything."

They walked on in silence, Lise keeping pace slightly behind Beth so that she could observe the girl's body language. She was rigid, her broad shoulders tense and her movement jerky and stiff. Even though her movements were off, Beth's stride was fast, and She was powering her way through the thick field with an ease only one with much experience could project. Lise trudged behind her tour guide, forcing her heavy legs to propel her onwards toward the curtain of black trees.

As they reached the forest, Beth turned sharply to the right and continued her soldier's march, barely casting a glance backwards to check if Lise was in tow. She was, but only just. Lise had stumbled after Beth, tripping over a loose root and face-planting into the hard, infertile soil. Lise had let out a long sigh, and hauled herself to her feet, staring enviously at Beth, who always knew exactly where to step on their invisible path.

The silence became far too loud for Lise, and she found herself grasping at strings of conversation, trying to drown out the blood rushing past her ears.

"You really know your way around here." Lise commented drily, wincing as long blades of grass scraped at her legs, leaving sore-looking scratch marks.

Beth snorted at Lise's bitter tone, slowing her pace to walk by her side. "Course I do, shank."

Lise breathed heavily, her lower ribcage and thighs burning. "How come?"

Beth smiled again, shifting her gaze from Lise's red face to the blue sky stretching out ahead of them. "I've been here awhile - learned the trade."

Lise waited patiently, taking the opportunity to catch her breath while Beth had a moment for herself. Beth let out a withheld breath, and wiped an inch of grime off her forehead. Lise looked at the older girl, willing her to speak.

"Look, Greenie." Beth said, still looking out into the distance, her eyes fixated on the sky. "You're the fourth of us. We're the only ones here - me, you, Harriet, and Sonya. I've been here two months. Harriet's been three and Sonya's only been here for one. You got that, stick?"

Lise nodded, stumbling to stay at Beth's side.

"Harriet won't tell me what it was like the first month. Heck, I don't know how she survived alone for so long." Beth paused, letting Lise contemplate the case of Harriet.

Harriet, alone, scared, without any memories. Harriet, surviving for a month in a completely barren land, with nothing. Lise felt a surge of sympathy; she had been alone in the _thing_ during her journey to the Glade, and she had almost gone insane. How could Harriet have done it, being alone with her thoughts for so long? She had nobody to pull her out of the _thing;_ there was nobody to give her a tour of the Glade and nobody to distract her from her terrifying thoughts. If Harriet was anything, she was unbelievably strong.

"But then I came along." Beth spoke up again, drawing Lise's thoughts back to the girl with disgusting hair. "And Harriet's eyes were filled with shucking hope! She looked so happy; she had found somebody." Beth's voice dropped to a hiss. "Then I had to shucking ruin everything. Now Sonya's her second in command."

Lise waited, but Beth didn't continue. She was biting her lip, slowing her walk as they reached their destination.

They were at one of the four walls, and it was even more menacing and ominous up close. The stone was grey and faded with age, yet upon touch it was cool and smooth, with no alcoves or jagged lines carved into the cold surface. They were so giant and seemed to be as connected to the ground below as much as how they reached into the sky above.

"How did you get out?" Lise whispered in awe, the whole encompass of her body shaking as she surveyed the walls rooted into the ground with an almost childlike wonder.

"Duh." Beth rolled her eyes, a smug smirk adorning her arrogant features. "We just wait for the walls to move."

Beth didn't give Lise a moment to react, launching into a happy cry as a young girl pushed herself off the wall.

Lise started. She hadn't seen the girl.

The girl was petite, and wore oversized faded grey clothing that melted into the stone walls from which she had been leaning against. Her hair was a gentle blond, and the thick curling locks were pulled back into a loose knot at the nape of her neck. She had doll-like features, with a delicate nose, round blue eyes with long golden eyelashes and thin lips curved downwards into a frown.

"Lise," Beth introduced cheerily, not the least bit perturbed. "This is Sonya. Sonya, meet Lise."

Sonya bent her head in greeting, and pursed her lips.

"She doesn't talk much." Beth hissed sideways. "She's been jacked up since she remembered her brother."

"She has a brother?" Lise said enviously, casting Sonya a long glance. _Sonya_ remembered her brother, a family member who she must have loved dearly while Lise gets stuck with a grotesque bleeding man in her memory. Sonya could remember something about her past - anything - and yet she still had the capacity to look like she'd sucked the juice off a whole lemon.

"I know you're talkin' about Newt." Sonya said in an accent foreign to Lise. It wasn't unpleasant, but added to the long list of things she didn't know about the Glade.

"Sorry, Sonya." Beth said apologetically, grinning sheepishly as Sonya folded her arms and glared at the two of them.

"Who's Newt?" Lise piped up, watching as Sonya's expression softened to a wide-eyed glassy stare, longing etched into every curve of her round face.

"He's my brother." She said sadly. There was a prolonged pause. Recovering, Sonya snorted bitterly. "I bet he was a bloody wanker. I can't remember nothing 'bout him though."

"He must've been a great person, even so." Lise said quietly. Sonya was lucky, at least she knew she had a family. At least she remembered something.

Sonya extended a hand to Lise, stretching out her long clean fingers. Lise shook it tentatively, a connection forming within her chest as she felt Sonya's warm hand.

"Thanks." She smiled softly. "You're okay, Greenie."

A large growl rung out in the formerly silent Glade. Both the girls looked at Beth, who raised her hands in meek surrender, a blush spreading across her oily cheeks.

"You got me." She sighed. "I'm starving."

Sonya let out a small laugh. "Let's go get some food then, ya bloody nob."

Lise laughed along, and stumbled after the two girls already setting off back in the direction of the small shack, a wisp of smoke rising in the distance.


	5. Chapter 5: Nightmare

p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Turns out, Beth was right. Sonya wasn't a talker./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The three girls walked back to the shack in a comfortable silence, disrupted only by the soft humming from Beth and the satisfied crunch their tattered trainers made as they stepped on a particularly hard clump of grass. Lise was getting better at navigating her way around the thick undergrowth, and she let her shoulders relax as she kept a relative pace with the other two girls. Beth was tall, and she had long slender legs, so she was a stride ahead of the other two and slightly in the lead. Sonya lagged behind, strolling casually with an expression of complete calm etched upon her otherworldly features./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"As they reached the shack, Beth stopped humming her tune and slowed her stride so she was walking next to Lise. Beth grinned at the Greenie, and Lise smiled warmly back./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""That's the Homestead." Beth announced proudly, pointing at the miserable shack drawing nearer as they walked. She puffed out her chest subconsciously. "I helped make it."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sonya joined them, and giggled at Beth's words. The older girl glared at Sonya, her gaze luckily searing over Lise's caramel head./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Singin' your praises." Sonya chortled, catching Lise's eye. Blue met green, and Sonya's eyes glittered. "Ain't it, stick?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Lise nodded, squeaking when Beth hit her playfully in the shoulder. "You're teaming up against me!"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sonya and Lise laughed in unison, Lise's chortle scratchy and Sonya's soft. After a moment, Beth joined them, her loud snorts only setting the girls off into more spirals of laughter. They all quietened, then burst into even more hysterics. They had to stop walking and clutch their sides, stitches tearing into them as they gulped in breaths of air between giggles. When they started to make their way to the Homestead again, the girls were staggering and supporting each other with arms around backs. Lise felt content, propped up between two laughing girls, one quiet and one loud, all connected throughout infectious chuckles./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The group finally reached the Homestead, the cold evening air freezing their laughter. Harriet was waiting at the front door, a stack of firewood in her arms. Her eyebrows were raised in disdain, and she bit her lip, waiting for somebody to speak up. She tapped her foot on the grass, and even though they could not hear the echo, the girls knew she wanted answers./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Lise stayed silent, unsure of what she would be answering for. It was only her first day, she didn't know anything about the Glade. If Harriet was in charge, she should understand Lise's confusion, having been there herself once. Three months ago. Lise looked helplessly to Sonya, who shrugged nonchalantly and cast her gaze at Beth. The older girl wiped her hands on her leggings, and then raised her head to face Harriet head on./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""What's up?" Beth teased anxiously, taking a step towards Harriet. Harriet also took a step forward, shifting the firewood's position so it was nestled comfortably under one arm instead of two./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harriet rolled her eyes. "Look, Beth. I'll give your toss-ass some slack because you were showing the Greenie around." Here, Harriet glanced at Lise and smiled faintly. "But you know I said to meet back here early so we could plan the running for next week."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Beth rubbed the back of her neck, lifting her oily hair out of the way. "Oh yeah. Let's do that."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Sonya." Harriet addressed the blond girl, holding out the firewood expectantly. "You set up with the Greenie and tell 'er about the running."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sonya obligingly took the firewood with a silent nod, then jerked her head towards Lise. "Come on then stick, stop ya dilly-dallying."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Lise scuttled over to Sonya and took half of the firewood out of her arms, grunting at how heavy it was. Sonya smiled kindly, and lifted some of Lise's heavy load out of her care. Sonya then set off in a skip towards a small square of grass that was lower cut than the others, with a circle of pebbles marking out a charred area of burnt grass. Sonya knelt down at the pebbles, and started placing her firewood strategically inside the circle. Lise wasn't sure what to do, so she followed Sonya and placed her firewood pile next to the older girl's, and tried to replicate the complicated design Sonya was creating. Sonya silently adjusted Lise's firewood so it matched up with her own, and subtly produced a narrow box from her oversized grey clothing. Lise watched as Sonya slid open the box, and pulled a thin stick from it's casing./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"emMatch./em/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The word popped into Lise's head out of nowhere, and it stuck. That was what the thin stick was called, and it was used to start fires. Sonya stuck the match against the box, and it was engulfed in flame. The match blazed, an orange light radiating heat and brightness. Sonya held the match over the firewood at an angle, then dropped it into the heart of the stack carefully. Lise waited in anticipation, her gaze fixated on the firewood. Sure enough, the warm orange flame had crept up the firewood, and was casting a bright light around the dark field. A raging bonfire was beginning./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sonya pushed herself onto her feet with ease, and gestured for Lise to do the same. Lise slowly raised herself upwards, brushing grass off her clothing./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sonya smiled, speaking quietly. "There's a lot of that here, stick. You're not gonna be gettin' rid of it."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She turned back towards the sha- Homestead, and Lise had no choice but to follow her. Sonya reached the Homestead first, with Lise trailing half-heartedly behind her./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sonya swirled around at the door, a rare grin on her doll-like features. "Come on Greenie. You're keepin' me buggin' waiting."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Lise smiled apologetically and headed into the Homestead after her peer./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Once inside, Sonya ducked behind a narrow wooden staircase - which Lise supposed led to where she had woken - and into a small separate room, with Lise hot at her heels. The separate room had a low ceiling, slanted downwards away from them. Every part of the room was stocked with firewood. It hung from the walls in bundles tied by weaved branches, it leaned against the walls in heavy looking clumps. Sonya reached upwards and pulled down a whole net of weaved branches, slowly lowering them to the floor with a gentle emthud. /emSonya sidestepped around the weaved netting, and grabbed the far end, gesturing for Lise to take the front, as it was too much wood for one person. Lise braced herself, pushing her hair out of her eyes, and latched her fingers through the thick netting. She bent her knees, planted her feet, and pulled, shifting the netting so it was slung at her shoulder. It made her arms ache, her muscles protesting as she pulled, the strong firewood digging into the exposed parts of her skin. Harriet nodded at the door, and Lise began to trudge past it, and out into the Glade./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"When they set the firewood down at the growing bonfire, Lise's arms fell limply to her sides. She looked at them, and winced at the angry red marks searing her palms and forearms. Harriet tilted her head at the firewood./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Good job, stick." She said. "Glad to see ya don't skive off chores."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Lise shrugged. "I guess."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sonya sat down on the cropped grass, a foot away from their growing bonfire. She patted the grass next to her. Lise gingerly joined her, reluctantly shifting her aching muscles. Sonya held her hands out to the fire, offering the flame to lick her flesh. She let out a sigh of contentment, feeling the heat radiate through her skin. Lise copied her, flinching every time the flame reached out to touch her skin. Eventually the heat seeped into her, making itself known by the subtle tingling her rope-burned flesh made when warm./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""So I'm supposed to set ya up." Sonya said, after a fairly comfortable silence. "Tell ya about the running, Harriet said."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Yeah." Lise affirmed, keeping her eyes glued to the orange fire and its dancing flame./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Well," Harriet began, choosing her words carefully with an obvious precision. "We're kind-of in a maze, see."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Lise nodded vigorously. "I know." But she wanted to know more, how she could get out./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Okay." Sonya said in her usual slow pace. "Well every day, some of us go running in the Maze. To find stuff."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""What?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sonya laughed softly. "What did I say, shank? We run and go find stuff. You know, clues."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Lise shook her head./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""You're takin' the mick." Sonya said, turning to face Lise. "Didn't Beth say emanything/em to you?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Lise nodded indignantly, feeling an urge to protect the chatty Glader rise within her. "Course she did. But it's your job to explain."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sonya snorted. "You're right, stick."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sonya paused, staring into the fire and mulling over what she was going to say to Lise. Lise watched her, observed the way the fire illuminated her thick blond locks, cast shadows across her doll-like features and made her seem haunting, unnaturally beautiful./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""We're trying to find a way out." Sonya eventually stated, turning in the grass to face Lise with a solemn expression. "You mark the beginning of a fourth month, and we've found nothing. Zilch." She let out a cold laugh, short and bitter. "The bloody walls move, you see? Every night, they move and make a new formation, a new pattern. So what we've decided to do, we've started runnin' the Maze, tryin' to map out all the curves and klunk."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sonya shut her mouth firmly here, shocked she'd spoken so much. Lise was also shocked, but at the cold edge to Sonya's tone when she'd spoken about their fruitless attempts to find their way out of the maze. It just seemed so unlike her. Of course, Lise barely knew the girl. Everyone was unpredictable./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Lise squinted at the gigantic walls in the distance, tilting her head to see the tips of their edges reaching into the night sky. Judging by the size of the four walls surrounding her, Lise expected the maze to large. As large as a city./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Hey, Lise!" A cheerful voice called, followed by footsteps skipping up to the bonfire. Beth crouched down on the balls of her feet, giving Lise a short wave. She looked at Sonya and smiled warily at the silence she received. Beth briskly shook it off and pointed at the raging bonfire./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Good work." She praised, nodding her head wisely. "It's just as good as it was yesterday." She winked at Lise, and then busily settled across the grass from her./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harriet was last to join the group, and sat down on the grass opposite Sonya, but a good distance away from Beth. The two girls seemed to shrink away from each other, leaning in the opposite direction from where the other person was. Harriet produced a thick bag from her waist, and pulled four corn cobs out from within it. She handed one to each of the girls, then picked up a stray stick from the grass and speared her corn cob through with it. Surprisingly, the stick didn't snap and it supported the heavy cob. Harriet leaned backwards, holding her corn over the fire by the end of the stick./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""You can eat it normal or roast it, stick." Beth said to Lise, taking a bite from her own corn cob./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Lise decided to play it safe and eat it the way it was, relishing the taste of the food in her mouth. She popped each individual piece of corn into her mouth one by one, savouring the gentle bursts of flavour. The girls ate together, the only sounds the munch and crunch of the corn cobs being processed./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""It tastes good." Lise commented, wiping her mouth with her arm as the girls around her nodded in appreciation./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Good that." Harriet said, smacking her lips./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The leader stood up, rolling her shoulders back. Harriet looked directly at Lise, and smiled consolingly - this was unusual for the stone-faced older girl./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""You're first night here might be a little rough, Greenie." Harriet said. "Don't worry if you get a little frit."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Yeah," Beth chipped in, offering a slightly more subdued grin. "We're not gonna judge you!"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""So." Sonya affirmed with a dip of her blond locks in Lise's direction./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sonya rose to stand next to Harriet at her right hand side, slightly behind her, lingering in front of the fire. Their shadows illuminated the grass surrounding them in a hazy yellow sliver of light, casting an impenetrable shadow everywhere else, including Lise and Beth, who were still sitting on the grass below. Beth's face was masked by shadow, the white glint in her eye menacing in the darkness. Her high cheekbones were lost in the darkness, but her eyes brought out her whole face, practically glowing with life and the reflected flames in front of them. The deep orange fire mixed with her murky grey iris' created a stranger's eyes: they were brown, not as dark as Harriet's - a completely different shade./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Um..." Lise said, biting the inside of her lip as the girls all turned to her. Their stares were overwhelming, each one bright and attention-seeking and filled with a different emotion - disorientating. Lise focused on her hands that were clasped together on her lap; they looked as familiar as everything else in the Glade - which is to say, completely unfamiliar. Her nails were bitten to their beds, but Lise could not remember if she even bit her nails. At least they were a part of her, and they had always been there. "Where do you guys sleep?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sonya spoke up, her silhouette turning slightly towards Lise as she shifted her weight to one foot. "We're making hammocks - and we already have a buggin' lot of them - but we need some sort of coverage." Sonya took a breath. "So we sleep out here for now." She paused, then added as an afterthought. "And it's always bloody freezing unless someone keeps the fire goin'."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harriet nodded along, agreeing with her second in command. Sonya cast Harriet a glance of assurance - and upon her grunt of approval - headed back into the shack, presumably to retrieve the aforementioned hammocks. The two seemed like a good pair; Harriet could handle the heavy planning and worrying, and Sonya could communicate it accurately. And people would listen to Sonya when she spoke, because she barely ever said anything./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Beth piped up as soon as Sonya had vanished into the shadows. "Yo, Harriet?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harriet sighed. "What, shuck-face?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Beth laughed, shaking her head briskly from side to side. Her blond hair flew into her eyes as she did this, and Lise shivered, imagining the grime wipe across her face and fall into her eyes. "Tsk, tsk." Beth chided cheerfully in a sing-song voice. "What did we say about cussing, toss?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harriet grunted, murmuring indescribably under her breath. After a moment of a slightly awkward silence for Lise, Harriet crouched down in front of them so she was eye-level with Beth. She glared at the girl, her brows furrowing as her mouth stretched into a thin line. "What?" She said in a gruff voice./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Just wondering..." Beth smiled mischievously. "Who's turn is it to fire-watch tonight? It's yours, right?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harriet narrowed her eyes, suspicion laced in every syllable as she slowly said: "Why?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Beth exaggerated thinking. "I just wanna spend time with the Greenie, okay?" She finally said./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Why? So you can get off with her?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sonya had returned. Her clipped retort in defence of Harriet gave Lise the strong urge to chuckle. It was so fiercely stated, that both Harriet and Beth seemed taken aback by her sharp words. It was amusing how they both started, not having noticed Sonya's silent approach back into the conversation. It took Lise awhile to digest her phrase, before she squeaked, having realised what Sonya meant./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Hehe." Sonya said quietly to Lise as she handed out heavy bundles of fabric with strings of rope hanging from the sides - the hammocks. "Don't think too much into it, yeah? I was just kidding ya. You won't be snogging that shank anytime soon."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She cast a glance at Beth, rolling her eyes. Lise smiled, and Sonya moved onwards to hand the hammocks out to Beth and Harriet, who were staring venomously at each other, their whole bodies tensed. Sonya practically threw the hammocks at them, knocking them out of their intense cycle of hatred while they struggled to get a grip on the heavy fabric strewn all over them./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Once everybody had a hammock, Harriet led the girls closer to the bonfire, and grunted for them to lay their makeshift beds out on the grass as close to the fire as was comfortable. Harriet took the spot leaning against the pile of firewood (which Lise and Sonya had been burdened with dragging up to the fire) where she announced she would be on watch, and briefly explained to Lise what exactly that was. Harriet would say awake for the entirety of the night, and put a log of wood in the fire whenever it seemed to do deplete it's flame. She commented that Lise and Sonya had done satisfactory work and that the firewood they'd brought would be enough for the night. Just enough, she'd added with a small smirk./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sonya set her hammock next to Harriet's little camp, but further away from the fire than necessary. She had spaced herself quite far away from the other Gladers as well, and Lise could just see her curled in on herself from the edge of her hazy peripheral vision. Sonya didn't seem cold, but her position was angled away from the others and faced the woods, an inky stretch of darkness barely distinguished from the dark sky dotted with stars above./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Beth gestured for Lise to lay her hammock out right next to hers, which was directly in front of the fire, absorbing all the heat radiating from within. Lise did so, glad that she was welcomed into a place and didn't have to awkwardly wonder where people's specific places were, and whether she was intruding on their personal space. Lise struggled to stretch out the thick fabric, but eventually managed to push her hammock down against the flat ground. emUnusually flat/em. But then again, Lise didn't remember the usual. For all she knew, she whole world was completely flat. Lise contemplated this as she lay her hammock down, imagining the world being laid out like her makeshift bed. Everything in it's own place, completely controlled by one being, one force of nature./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Night guys!" Beth said cheerily, before turning onto her back and closing her eyes, completely blocking out her surroundings. After a short while, Beth began to breathe heavily and evenly, her shoulders relaxing into the hammock between breaths. She was fast asleep./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Lise stared up at the stars, trying to remember the names of shapes that appeared to her as if they were through a distorted glass lens. The positioning of the stars, they were so familiar, yet so completely unfamiliar. Lise felt a wave of melancholic sadness mixed with a poignant longing for something she couldn't remember. Her chest tightened as the blank voids in her mind pressed in on her, forcing her to look at them, see something that wasn't there. Her mind was silent as her surroundings, the only sound being the slow crackle of the dying bonfire. Lise lifted her head to glance at Harriet; her braided hair was lying haloed across her face and her mouth was slightly parted as she snored quietly. She was asleep too./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"emEveryone here is going to freeze to death./em/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Lise slowly rose from her comfortable position entangled in the hammock, and made her way to the pile of firewood, stepping over Harriet's sleeping body. She carefully moved Harriet's head to the side so she could pull out a few loose logs and throw them into the bonfire, sparking up the flames once again./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"A soft moan carried through the wind, sending shivers down Lise's spine. She slowly turned, hairs standing up against the skin covered in goose bumps on her neck. It was a terrifying sound, lonely and haunting in the heavy silence that followed afterwards. Lise couldn't see anything, everything apart from the weak bonfire was blanketed in black. A glimmer of blond hair caught the light, and Lise narrowed her eyes, watching a petite girl recoil into herself, shivering from the cold./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"emIt's Sonya. /emLise thought, a guilty relief flooding through her veins. emBeth said she was jacked up earlier, whatever that means./em/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Lise focused in on the second in command, listening for more sounds of distress. Sonya was fretfully mumbling in her sleep, in a cruelly broken voice, every word dragging itself out of her throat coated in an innate regret and fear. Lise stopped throwing logs into the fire, and listened intently to Sonya, waiting for the girl to voice her nightmares once again./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""No!" Sonya cried quietly, her voice raw and heartbroken as she reached a thin limb into the darkness. "Give him back!" She moaned again, a childish cry for help. "Give Newt back! I don't want him to leave!"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Lise closed her eyes. Sonya was calling for her brother, tormented by the one part of her past she could remember. She must be miserable, knowing that somebody is out there for her, but only knowing their name. Never knowing if you'll ever meet them again. Lise was almost grateful her mind was at a complete blank (not mentioning the horrific face she had seen) because she did not remember a loved one. The only pain she would feel was an empty feeling of regret for forgetting them./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sonya had the biggest burden on her shoulders; she had the most to lose. If they never got out of the Maze - a maze that the other Gladers had been searching for months - Sonya would have lost a brother. The others may have as well, but they would never know. They would never know if there was anybody out there who cared for them like a sibling; Sonya had a sibling./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Lise felt her heart break and shatter into millions of tiny pieces for the girl that barely spoke. Sonya's voice was different to the others, her brother's voice may sound like hers. Everytime she spoke, what if Sonya was reminded of the brother she'd lost before she'd known him? The brother she might never see again?/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Them - the monsters who had put the Gladers in the maze - were cruel. Cruel and heartless. What did they get out of this experience, of putting children in a maze away from all those they knew and loved? What sick fascination filled their minds while watching a young girl sob over a brother she never got to see, to hear, to touch? They were terrible. How could they do this to the Gladers?/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Lise pushed more logs into the fire, focusing solely on the task at hand. If she got lost in her thoughts, she would only drown in them, and never find her way back to reality. Reality may be a horrible place, but it was the only place she had at that moment in time. Plus, the other Gladers were stuck there too./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"For now, she just needed to keep feeding the bonfire. Lise pushed more logs into the orange flames, watching as the sparks flew and then disappeared into the impenetrable night./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She just needed to keep going. That was enough for now./p 


	6. Chapter 6: The Maze

**Woo! New chapter!**

* * *

 _Day 2:_

"Rise and shine!"

Lise groggily opened her eyes, squinting at the silhouette looming over her, it's body blocking out the gentle light of the early morning. The silhouette shifted it's weight while Lise blinked, her eyes struggling to focus. The silhouette sharpened, and Lise could make out the broad stature of Beth, a fellow Glader.

Could she call herself a Glader? She had only been there for one night, but there was nobody except for the three girls to make her feel like an outcast, and they were trying so hard to make her comfortable with their customs and ways of survival. She was adjusting okay, if she was honest.

Beth reached a hand towards Lise, her fingers extending in an offer. Lise gingerly took her hand and let Beth pull her up from the comfort of the evenly cut grass. She'd spent most of the previous night tending the fire, so whenever she occasionally slipped into short periods of sleep she had slept on the grass. Lise ran her fingers through strands of her choppy caramel hair; her fingers returned caked in ash from the bonfire.

Beth grinned at Lise, smiling as if she'd slept for days, and not mere hours. Her eyes were bright, their grey iris' shimmering.

"How did your first night go?" Beth said in a sly voice, raising her eyebrows suggestively. "You woke up next to Harriet."

Lise looked back to her spot of cramped grass. It was right beside the firewood, where Harriet had designated her post to be, but of course Harriet had fallen asleep that night. Looking back on it, Lise supposed she and Harriet _were_ sleeping next to each other, if Harriet was strewn across the firewood and Lise was posted just beside it, if you thought about it in a theoretical way. Beth just liked to romanticize things, Lise decided.

Upon no reply from Lise, Beth burst into laughter. "Jeez!" She snorted. "I was joking! Don't be so uptight!"

Lise shrugged, dismissing Beth's claims. The older girl turned away from Lise, and cupped her hands around her lips.

"Sonya!" Beth shouted into the crisp morning air, her voice echoing across the bare Glade. "Hurry the shuck up! I'm hungry!"

Lise shivered. She had witnessed Sonya's melancholy over the last night, something she was sure Sonya was trying to keep hidden from the rest of the girls. Lise should have pretended not to hear Sonya, or at least have gathered the courage the wake the girl up from her nightmarish turmoil. Instead, Lise had listened to Sonya's retched cries, and hadn't done anything. She had simply watched the older girl sleep, haunted by phantoms of her shadowy past. Maybe if she'd woken Sonya up, Lise would have gained respect from the older girl, and they would have bonded. But Lise had trespassed into Sonya's mind, and Sonya didn't know anything.

Sonya jogged up to the girls from the Homestead, balancing three apples in one hand, and four in the other. Lise struggled to keep her expression neutral, she didn't want Sonya to know she had intruded. She'd stepped past an invisible line.

"Here ya go, shank." Sonya said, tossing an apple at Beth. Beth caught it, and Sonya smirked.

The petite girl didn't look any different, not anything like the way she had sounded last night. Sonya had scraped her blond hair up into a thick bun, and her blue eyes were slightly duller than they usually were if Lise squinted hard enough. She didn't have dark circles under her eyes, and her face wasn't creased in worry or gaunt with fear. She looked... normal.

Sonya threw Lise an apple carefully, her eyes scanning over the newest Glader as she did so. Sonya narrowed her eyes as Lise fumbled for the fruit. "You okay, stick?"

Lise blanched. Did Sonya remember the previous night? Did she know that Lise was there? "Y-yeah." Lise mumbled.

Sonya smiled, her eyes remaining cold. "You look knackered." She commented slowly. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"I did."

Sonya nodded. "Good that." She turned away, heading back towards the Homestead slowly and deliberately, balancing the extra apples in her hands.

Beth whispered conspiratorially into Lise's ear, cocking a brow. "I told you she's jacked."

Lise took a bite into the apple, sighing as the sweet juice enveloped her senses. She just had to do one thing at a time, and worry about everything else later. First, listen to Beth, then everything else.

"Okay!" Beth announced in a booming voice, flinging her arms up at the sky. "Today's a new day!" She added with a flourish, chomping her apple loudly for affect. Lise felt content with her, Beth did enough speaking for the two of them. Beth continued to ramble on, drabbling on about the various buildings she wanted to construct in the Glade, and all of her crazy ideals for how she would improve the lifestyles of her fellow Gladers, who so desperately needed her help. Lise nodded her head at the appropriate times, grunting her consent whenever Beth looked at her expectantly or raised her eyebrows.

Beth carried on talking in dreamy breaths - her eyes glazed over with imagination - and Lise wondered absentmindedly if she would ever stop. What if Beth continued rambling, voicing all of her thoughts and ideals and fears and dreams until she ran out of breath?

 _Beth would be in trouble then._ Lise decided. She cast a glance at the older girl, who had barely paused for breath or thought and was talking about a completely different topic as of that moment. _She could go for days._

Luckily, Beth was interrupted as her voice cut off abruptly. Lise immediately stiffened. It was Harriet, the leader of the Gladers, who had approached the two girls while Beth was caught up in ideals. Lise watched as Beth's face closed off, her unique child-like wonder replaced by a plastic mask of a grin.

"Hey toss." Beth said cheerfully, an edge to her carefully carefree tone. She fixed the leader with a teasing smirk. "Are you gonna take the stick away from me?"

Harriet grunted, rolling her eyes at Beth as she took Lise's wrist a little too forcefully. "Yeah, I am gonna be takin' her." She narrowed her eyes. "You got a problem with that?"

"Nope." Beth chirped, smiling sheepishly at Lise before returning her gaze steadily to Harriet. "Are you taking her out?"

"Yeah." Harriet murmured. She raised her voice slightly, an objective tone underlying her simple words. "You should be buildin' a new place, Beth."

Lise felt chills run down her spine. This was the first time Harriet had called Beth by her first name since she'd arrived. It hadn't been more than twenty-four hours, but it already felt like years.

Beth looked away at the sound of her name on Harriet's toungue, and Lise was tempted to do the same. It sounded so rough, raw in such a way that it made Lise feel like an intruder overstepping her boundaries in the minds and affairs of her peers. Again.

Beth arranged her face into a shadow of a smile. "I'll be on that." She pulled her hair away from her face and into an oily ponytail, showcasing the gruesome scar that marred her otherwise blemish-free face. Beth winked at Lise, and shot off into a run, sprinting away from the girls and the Homestead and towards the thick cluster of trees that they called woods.

"What are they called?" Lise wondered aloud, her eyes following Beth's receding figure as she disappeared into the horizon.

"What?" Harriet grunted, letting go of her hand. She tracked Lise's eyes, and noticed their lingering stare into the woods. "Oh." She noted. "The trees don't have a name yet."

"They look dead."

Harriet shrugged. "True that. But they're at the head of the Glade, our landmark."

Lise considered Harriet's words. She didn't consider the Homestead to be the landmark, was that because Beth had built it? But Harriet must have helped, someone couldn't have built a whole two storey structure on their own. Could they?

"The dead heads." Lise muttered, her mind elsewhere. Harriet and Beth... was their relationship as miserable as the trees? She didn't know anything, anything at all. Possibly, if she maybe asked Sonya, Lise could find out what happened between them. But no way was she bringing it up with Harriet. The girl was stone cold.

"Uh huh." Harriet said. "Deadheads. Seems morbid enough."

The leader turned away, and jerked her head for Lise to follow her as she set off in a brisk pace towards the Homestead. Lise lagged behind, watching Harriet's confident stride. She didn't seem affected by anything; she was stone cold.

Harriet stopped at the door of the Homestead, holding her hand out to block Lise's path. Lise stopped short, looking up at Harriet. The leader's face was blank, the only sign of emotion her clenched jaw.

Sonya came out from the Homestead door a few moments later, holding two worn-out blue rucksacks. Each one was full to the brim, and looked close to bursting at the seams from the effort of restraining all the mysterious items inside. Sonya held the rucksacks out to Harriet in her hands, where she thoroughly ruffled through them, her eyes scanning the various materials inside.

"Sonya, you're late, you know." Was all that Harriet said, pulling out a thin watch from each rucksack that she had assessed. She handed one to Lise, and then proceeded to strap the remaining one onto herself.

Sonya bowed her head, pressing one of the rucksacks to Lise's chest and handing the other to Harriet. "I'm sorry." She muttered.

Harriet grunted. "Chill. We've still got a solid twenty minutes before the walls open. Go get the Greenie some of the trainers and some kind of weapon."

Sonya nodded and ran back into the Homestead. Lise put the rucksack on, and resisted the urge to look inside. There'd be time for that later.

"Why do I need a w-weapon?" Lise stumbled over the last word, a familiar fear wrapping itself around her chest, pulling.

"We don't know what's out there." Harriet said simply, kneeling down to retie the frayed laces on her own tattered trainers. "It's good to be ready, see."

"Out where?" Lise's voice trembled slightly, she wasn't sure if she wanted the answer.

Harriet stared at her, dark eyes unreadable as she kept a steady gaze on Lise.

"The Maze." Harriet said in a steely voice. "We're going out there."

Twenty minutes later, they were standing at the walls. The gigantic walls, the ones that were rooted into the ground, deep green moss spreading across the floor. It was impossible to imagine that they could open, that something that seemed so permanent could move. But apparently it could move, and Lise and Harriet were going outside of them.

Lise had been given tight running trainers by Sonya, and she had also been handed a long serrated shard of rock. It was a tainted grey colour, and was cold to the touch. It must have been from the walls, as there was no other explanation for a long piece of rock in a Glade full of grass. Lise clenched it in her fist, gripping the cold surface tightly as a deep rumbling resounded from the earth. Lise looked frantically to Harriet, who simply planted her feet firmly in the ground.

Lise's breath caught, and she looked at the walls as her chest tightened, a cold sense of dread coiling around her body.

The walls... they were _moving._

A deafening screech sounded, rattling all the bones inside of Lise. She forced her eyes to remain open as she watched the gigantic walls shift. They towered over her, leaning dangerously forwards as they scraped against the ground, dragged backwards by what Lise could only presume was a thick structural rod. As they moved, they shook the whole Glade, alerting every single being for miles of drastic change to the environment. Once they had retracted as much as they could, the heavy scraping stopped. Almost unnaturally quickly, everything was silent again, as if the walls had never moved at all. Where they once stood was a gap, a pathway lit by the early morning sunlight leading deeper into what Lise imagined to be the so called Maze. It looked so ethereal, haloed by the sunlight, that Lise almost forgot about the serrated rock she had been given for protection. Something so beautiful as the Maze could only be cruel, and extremely dangerous. She had been given the knife-like tool for a reason.

"Come on, Greenie." Harriet said, already stepping into the Maze. Her whole body was enveloped in sunlight, and she shone like an angel, her face illuminated and shimmering. Harriet's face split into an uncharacteristically open sile, her eyes alight with a fire Lise had never seen before. "We got running to do."

It was in that moment Lise realised why Harriet was so cold in the Glade, and why she was barely around in Lise's short period of time in her hospitality. Harriet didn't belong to the Glade. She belonged to the Maze.

As they ran through twisting walls, Lise contemplated over the personality of the leader of the Gladers. Harriet was stoic and strong, with a huge amount of responsibility thrown onto her by _them,_ the all-knowing people who had put them in the Maze. To Harriet, Lise suspected the Glade must be similar to a prison, somewhere she was dropped alone, and forced to take charge of in order to survive. Harriet had been alone in the Glade for a month before Beth came along, and she must have had the time to explore every single corner of the safe haven. When Beth came, Harriet must have been sick of surviving, being trapped inside the Glade like a test subject unable to leave the lab. She must never have dared to venture into the Maze, because there was nobody there to remember her, and if she left that person would be alone. So Lise concluded that Harriet took Beth's arrival as a means of escape, and left Beth to mind the Glade while she ran away from her problems, fears and responsibilities. Beth knew that she wasn't alone, so Harriet must have justified that as her reasons for leaving. If the Glade was only the centre of the Maze, who knew how large the Maze actually was? Harriet must ache to find out.

Lise watched the older girl sprint ahead of her, brown braids flying at the edge of her vision. Harriet could let go of her responsibilities while she ran, and just run. When she was running - as Lise was discovering now - the only focus was sustaining her breath so she could keep a steady pace for a longer period of time. They had been running for at least a few hours, and Harriet had only slowed her pace when Lise stumbled or tripped. As they rounded another identical grey corner, Harriet stopped running. Lise was glad for the break, and leaned across her knees to breathe in gulps of air. Her face was soaked in sweat, and her thighs burned like shuck.

"Let's stop for lunch before we head back." Harriet said breathily, sliding down the wall into a comfortable sitting position. Her face glistened with sweat, but it made Harriet's features gleam, softening their hard edges.

Lise collapsed onto the floor opposite Harriet, practically flinging her rucksack at the floor. She ravaged inside of it like a wild animal, searching for any consumable material. Lise found two apples and a plastic bottle of water, and began to eat. She gnawed mercilessly at the apple, demolishing it within a few bites. Just as she brought the second one to her lips, Harriet coughed.

"I wouldn't do that, Greenie." Harriet said, shaking her head. "You have to take your time, drink half the water in sips, and then eat _some_ of the second apple."

Lise nodded sheepishly, a red blush blossoming across her cheeks as she watched Harriet carefully unscrewing her own bottle of water. She took a few sips, and then set it on the ground next to her two untouched apples.

"I suppose you're wondering why I run." Harriet stated, tilting her head to the walls towering above them. Lise hummed her assent quietly, unsure whether to draw Harriet's attention back to her. "Well, first off I like running." Harriet continued. "It helps me think, clears my mind of all this klunk, you know."

Lise nodded, waiting for the leader to speak on. Harriet took a deep breath, so much more open in the Maze than she ever was cooped up in the Glade.

"Second off," Harriet began. "We need to get out of here. The shucking Maze, I mean. You've only been here a day, Greenie, but I've been here three months, going on four. I've been stuck in this place for three _months_. I don't know why we were put in here, but I know we gotta get out." Harriet took a breath, casting Lise a side-long glance as she bit her lip. Harriet pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment, considering her wording. "You see," She said carefully. "Why put us in the Maze if not to get us out? But they have got to motivate us, see. 'Cause why would we want to leave if life was good?" Harriet let out a sigh. "I bet Beth has showed you her scar, the one on her left jawbone? That happened here."

Lise felt her blood run cold. The Maze was a dangerous place, cruelly beautiful. It could damage the beauty of others, it seemed.

"She was the second girl here. I was first. We were running the Maze, but we got intercepted." Harriet pauses. "It was my fault. I told her to split, but she decided to stay. I should've forced her. I should've." Harriet shivers, and places the water and an apple back in her rucksack, taking a small bite out of the remaining one. "Anyway, the Griever came and it ripped off her flesh. Luckily she didn't get stung, but it's shucking pincers must've been covered in poison or something."

Lise's voice wouldn't work. She pushed herself, and managed to croak hoarsely. "Griever? S-stung?"

"So." Harriet affirmed. "The Grievers are what we call the Maze dwellers, they sound like the chorus of the dead, so we call 'em Grievers. They have syringes, filled with a shucking liquid. We don't want to know what's in them."

Lise nodded. Harriet stood up, and finished off her apple. She turned to Lise and smiled tightly at her, jerking her head back the way they came.

"Let's go." Harriet said, stepping confidently across the floor, shrugging her rucksack on.

Lise stood up too, her strength slightly replenished. She jogged up to Harriet, and they set off at a brisk walk back, preparing to jog the long way back.

They had run for a solid hour, before Harriet suddenly stopped. Her whole body tensed, frozen and stiff. After half a second Harriet burst back into motion, grabbing Lise by the collar and dragging her around a corner. Lise opened her mouth to protest, but Harriet clamped a shaking hand around her mouth. Lise quietened immediately, sensing the fear practically seeping off the leader. Harriet looked at Lise, her eyes wide and clear, and put a finger to her lips. Lise nodded, and Harriet released her sweaty palm.

"Wha-" Lise began, before Harriet's hand was against her mouth and slamming her into the stone wall as quick as lightning.

"Listen." Harriet growled, her eyes darting around the narrow pathway they were crouched in. Lise did so, straining her ears. She willed her head to stop pounding, for her heart to stop thumping against her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated, waiting for something to jump out at her.

After a moment, Lise heard it. A scraping against stone, the calculated thump of metal as it skated across the ground. Lise bit down on her lip, willing herself not to scream. Something was close. It was approaching them, the metal being, tracking them through the Maze's thick walls. This must be the Griever. The thing that had mutilated the side of Beth's face, and broken a bond between two girls in a life/death situation.

Harriet's eyes were bulging, and the hand she had clamped around Lise's face was violently shaking. She turned to the Greenie and whispered, her voice barely audible. "Pull out your weapon. We're gonna have to run past it, it's blocking our way."

Lise shook her head, wanting to avoid all contact with the beast.

"Would you rather we stay here overnight?" Harriet growled. "There's more of them then."

Lise slowly pulled her rucksack from her back, pulling out the serrated rock with trembling hands. She could barely hold it, she was so overwhelmed with terror. If there was a being who could injure as badly as it had done Beth - by accident - what would it do if it had hit its mark?

Harriet dropped her hand from Lise's mouth, and carefully drew a dagger from her own rucksack. Not a piece of fallen wall, an actual knife. Harriet held up three fingers, counting down the time until they would run.

Lise stood up, her whole body shaking with the effort it took to stand. She couldn't do this, but she had to. She had to.

Harriet took away a finger.

Then another.

They began to run.

Lise sprinted after Harriet, following the girl streaking ahead of the path like a bullet. They ran past their path and into the fork, where the Griever was waiting. Harriet didn't look at it, but accelerated, propelling herself forwards and past it before the monster could react. Lise was slower. She ran, but stopped to look at the being.

The Griever was disgusting. It had a pulsating bulge for a body, fleshy and slimy. Chains and knives and rotten hands protruded from the fleshy chest, sharp and fatal and terrifying. Metallic legs arched upwards and then down like a centipede's legs, thin spindly rods of steel. A thick bulbous tail curled from the back of the Griever, a thick syringe attached to the hanging end. The creature stared at Lise for a moment, and they were both still, Lise frozen with terror.

She screamed. The monster came to life, scuttling towards her, spindly metal rods skidding and scraping across the floor as hands and chainsaws reached outwards. Lise screamed gutturally, stumbling into the race of her life. She ran faster than she had ever run before, the only thought relaying across her mind was to get away. She dropped her piece of rock, and it clattered useless to the floor. Lise didn't pause and sprinted on, screaming at the top of her lungs. Harriet eventually came into view, streaking ahead of her, Lise screamed her name, and the leader turned, her face paling when she saw the monster scuttling after them. Harriet turned and continued to sprint, forcing Lise to pick up her pace.

She could smell the rancid stench of the Griever behind her. Metal mixed with blood and burning flesh. She wasn't sure how she knew those smells, but they slunk up her nose and filled her head. She ran on, focusing only on keeping Harriet's receding form in sight.

The Glade could be seen in the distance, and Harriet had already made it there. She was shouting, yelling something while turned away from Lise. She was alerting the others, taking back on the responsibility of a leader. Lise ran on, her heart racing alongside of her, adrenaline propelling her to the break in the walls. Lise crossed the threshold, and collapsed onto the grass, waiting for the end to come, to be injected with the syringe. Waiting to be stung.

But nothing came.

Lise opened her eyes, and saw the Griever backing away into the Maze just as the rumbling sound came again. The walls were closing, they were locking the Griever out.

Harriet approached her, drenched in sweat but looking more alive than ever. Her body practically glowed.

"Don't worry." Harriet rasped. "They never come in the Glade. We're safe here."

With those words, Harriet collapsed on the grass next to Lise. Lise let her head sink to the ground, and closed her eyes, the grievers pulsating form fresh in her consciousness and the scuttling sound inborne in her ears.

Lise waited for the exhaustion to take over. Beth and Sonya would find them.

They were safe in the Glade.


	7. Chapter 7: The Passing of Time

_Day 11:_

After escaping the Maze a few days ago, Lise had refused to go anywhere near the walls. They scared her. The walls were tall and thick, but she wasn't sure if that would block out Grievers. The walls were covered in a gloopy green moss, lubricating the otherwise rough surface of the walls, but she wasn't sure if it would stop the Grievers from climbing it. It's scuttering echoed inside of her, the terrible sound of metal on stone resounding within her. The metallic monster lingered in her mind, her one run in haunting her memories. It filled her mind like smoke, seeping into every corner of her brain and consuming her with a such a fear for her life that she thought that she might go insane. It was simply what happened to those without any memories. Her mind strained to fill the empty voids that used to be filled with past experiences, but all it could find were the horrible new ones. The gruesome face, Beth's scar, Sonya's sobbing and the Griever flooded through her thoughts, pushing out all the times Lise had almost felt happy in the Glade. Harriet had said they were safe in the Glade, but they couldn't be. Lise didn't know why the Griever had stopped at the end of the pathway, but she was sure if the walls hadn't closed it would have reached her and snatched her and stung her and eaten her.

Lise had spent the past few days helping Beth out around the Glade. The older girl knew how it felt to see a Griever, and seemed to have also developed a fear for the Maze. She wouldn't talk about it, and that was exactly how Lise realised how innate her fear was. Beth was the type of girl to talk about anything, anywhere. While Lise was helping Beth brace the walls for a new building, Beth had casually commented on how Sonya could run faster than Harriet, and that whenever they ran the Maze together they had internal competitions, each person channelling the other to work harder. Lise had cast Beth a bewildered glance, but Beth had laughed and told her to place the wooden planks at a forty-five degree angle. When Lise was preparing the evening meal with Beth, the older girl had mentioned how Harriet had a strange habit of waking at the same time every morning, and taking a stroll three times around the Glade. Lise had asked how Beth had known this, but the girl simply smiled ominously. If Beth was silent, she was thinking about something that she could not share. If she was silent, she was pondering on the things that would later reappear in her dreams, haunting her through her slumber. The fact that Harriet had told Lise about her and Beth's past in the Maze said enough.

Lise decided that she would become Beth's friend, and that one day the older girl would trust her enough to tell her herself.

 _Day 25:_

Lise liked to believe that she had settled well into the Glade over the past few weeks. She had grown close to Beth through their secluded time together in the Glade while Sonya and Harriet were running the Maze. Together, Beth and Lise had accomplished the feat of finishing a second building; the building looked much more sophisticated than the previous one, with a stone base and a polished wooden upper floor. Lise had worked extremely hard on it, learning how to use an axe, nail planks of wood together, brace ceilings and walls all the while bonding with Beth. The older girl had a lot to say, and provided all the conversation needed while they worked on the second structure. They had finally finished it, and both of them were proud of the blood, sweat and tears that they had put into creating it. The two waited impatiently for Harriet and Sonya to return from the Maze, Beth pacing around their building while Lise sat in the doorway, chewing on her fingernails.

Harriet and Sonya finally arrived back from the Maze, sprinting in from the gap just as the familiar rumbling began to resound across the Glade. The Maze walls trembled, and began to slowly close, pressing in on each other as they were driven forward by the thick metal rods. Sonya and Harriet jogged towards the new building, drawn to it like moths to a flame. Lise stood up as they drew nearer, feeling her posture straighten in the presence of the leader and her second in command. Harriet's hair was piled into a bun on top of her head, and she was drenched in sweat, panting happily as she stretched her muscles. Sonya's eyes were bright, standing out against the slick blond hair plastered across her face from the run. She too was out of breath, and clutched her side while bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet. Harriet pointed at the building wordlessly, her dark eyes flicking from Beth to Lise to the new structure.

"Yeah toss." Beth announced proudly, letting a smug grin slide across her face. "We finished it."

"Good that." Harriet said in a quick breath, breathing heavily through her nose.

Sonya managed a tired smile. "That's bloody brilliant." She spluttered quietly, gazing down at Lise in quiet appreciation. The Greenie blushed, feeling a pleasant warm feeling sprout within her.

"We haven't thought of a name yet." Beth said excitedly, her eyes glinting. "But it's gotta be a shucking good one, yeah?"

Sonya nodded and Harriet grunted.

Beth continued, unadherred by her less than passionate listeners. "And we were thinking of using here as a kitchen, since the Homestead is filled with firewood and stuff." She paused, turning to look at her creation. "We already have a medical room in the Homestead, but we could store extra things like the shoes and stuff upstairs." Beth grinned. "Lise also found animals in the Deadheads."

Harriet perked up, looking with a slight interest at Lise, who fixed her eyes on the ground. Sonya kicked Lise's ankle, and she looked up to see the pretty Glader smile encouragingly at Lise. After eating nothing but corn since they'd arrived, the girls were all silently desperate for a range of taste, and flavour, and food in general.

"Um..." Lise said timidly, feeling her throat close up. "I-I saw some animals in the Deadheads, pigs and sheep and the like." She took a deep breath, waiting for the thumping in her chest to quieten down. She was only talking to her friends, the only people she knew. Lise couldn't afford to distance herself. "I'm not sure how they ended up there, 'cause they weren't there before."

Sonya let out a low whistle. "It's _them_ , those buggin' creators." She gave Lise a small smile. "Good job though for finding them out."

Harriet popped her lips, drawing the attention of the group back to her. She pinched the bridge of her nose, scrunching her brows in thought. After a moment of focused silence, the leader turned to the rest of the Gladers.

"The best thing we can do now is round up the animals." Harriet said slowly. "Put them in a pen and feed 'em."

"How come?" Beth said perkily.

"Because." Harriet reasoned with an eye roll. "None of us know how to prepare an animal to eat, and unless any of you are willing to learn-"

Lise frantically shook her head, loosening her hair from its coiled knot. The other two girls also displayed their objections, through folded arms and disgusted stares. Harriet nodded knowingly, deciding that her perceptions were correct, as they most likely were.

"That's exactly what I thought, shanks." Harriet said with a finality. "We've just gotta wait until the next Greenie comes and we'll make them cook."

Beth agreed enthusiastically, skipping off into the newly built building while chanting about pens and meat.

"If that's what ya think." Sonya said obediently, and headed towards the Homestead, presumably to take out a hammock and lie down.

Harriet and Beth stared at each other for a moment, before Harriet nodded briskly at Lise and followed Sonya.

Lise cast a small look around the Glade, and then scampered in the direction of the Deadheads, her heart melting at the thought of seeing rabbits, and then freezing at the thought of eating them.

 _Month 2:_

Isadora was the name of the newest Glader. She was exuberant, beautiful, and completely attached to Beth. The two girls looked around the same age, and with Beth's darkened blond hair hanging around her shoulders and Isadora's glossy brown locks cascading around her neck they looked like sisters. At first Lise was disgusted at how easily Beth had found a new friend, but she concluded that it was just the nature of the older girl's personality. Isadora liked to actively listen, and could contribute much more to any conversation Beth held than Lise could ever hope to. Eventually Lise had decided to run the Maze again, though her heart still beat painfully whenever she stepped outside the Glade's boundaries.

Harriet wasn't lying when she had stated that she would make Isadora cook. The newest building had become the new Greenie's domain, and she ruled it like a kingdom. Isadora had set out rules for _her_ kitchen, rules from which every girl was expected to obey. Only she could cook in there, and the food would be presented at the same time everyday, and those who missed it would be denied a make-up meal. She kept the building spotlessly clean, which Lise was extremely suspicious of. The girl had to skin animals for the meat she provided, yet there was no blood anywhere inside the building. Sonya had been as sceptical as Lise, as she had remarked on the cleanliness of the kitchen during one of the daily treacherous runs they made. Harriet had overheard the two's whispering and had concluded that she would ask the newest Glader. That very evening Harriet had asked, without sugar-coating nor suspicion, just a straight-up question. Isadora had laughed lightly, exchanging a glance with Beth before she answered that she did it outside. A short investigation had commenced, with Harriet leading the girls on a brisk march to the rear end of Isadora's - as the building was now christened - to examine the wooden animal pens that had been recently constructed by Beth. Upon inspection, both Lise and Sonya had been horrified to see the dark blotches of blood splattered across the back wall. Carcasses of animal insides were piled on the floor, separated from bone to guts to intestines, sprawled all over the grass. Lise had felt sick, bile rising to her throat as she grabbed her stomach, prepared to force her previous meal from reappearing to join the piles of expense on the dead grass. Sonya had placed a shaking hand on Lise's shoulder, and the two girls stood in a silent solidarity for the animals carelessly littered on the floor. After that experience, the Lise was much more inclined to spend her days in the terrifying Maze, than in the Glade watching innocent animals be slaughtered for their survival.

Lise decided that she would stay far away from Isadora, and the blinding smile she beamed while talking passionately about skinning animals.

 _Month 5:_

"Are you sure that someone's gonna come out of that hole?"

"Frankie, shut up."

"No, you shut up!"

"Emilie, Frankie. Stop your yappin'."

Lise supressed the strong urge to roll her eyes. Frankie, the newest Greenie, could still not come to terms with the fact that people arrived in a box, through a hole. Lise had been in the Glade for five months, and she could still feel a faint terror when she heard the shaking and grinding of the Box arriving. Every month, it was hard to imagine that a new person would arrive in the Glade, a new person would be welcomed into a community of caged birds. Harriet, Beth, Sonya, Lise, Isadora, Elena, Emilie and Frankie were the current Gladers, and each girl was secretly terrified, wrapped in their own memories of their horrible ascent into the world of the Maze.

"Course some shank's gonna come up, stick." Isadora had quipped tightly. She had started using Beth's terminology, as the two had become inseparable since the Glader arrived. They were together all day, cooking meals in _Isadora's_ together and slicing up animals as a pair, probably revelling in all the blood and guts littered around them. General bonding stuff.

"Don't worry, Frankie." Elena offered sweetly, holding out a chocolate brown palm at the Greenie. Frankie grasped her hand gratefully, squeezing her hand tightly within her own. "I've been there too. You just have to remember that its not you in there, its someone else."

Lise creased her brow. Elena was suggesting that Frankie take solace from the fact that it was somebody else in there, experience the confusion and fear they had all felt when they first arrived. Lise would not wish that crushing fear onto anyone, she could barely handle it herself. Even now Lise had to clench her fists to keep her focus away from her heavily pounding heartbeat and the blood rushing past her ears. She couldn't even speak for all the air that had been robbed from her panicking lungs. Why would anybody ever want to give that experience to someone else?

Sonya seemed to agree with her, as the older girl's blue eyes found Lise's green ones, and narrowed. Lise sighed loudly, hoping Sonya would understand that she was confused as well. The older girl repeated the sigh, agreeing instantly. That's how the two of them communicated, through sideways stares and gentle nudges and subtle sounds.

"She'll be up here in a minute, shanks." Beth laughed in the face of her peers, destroying the tense mood. She exchanged a sly glance with Isadora, who smirked. "Frankie?" Beth grinned. "Don't klunk your pants this time, yeah?"

The newest Greenie flushed, her face turning as red as her short hair. Elena rolled her eyes at Beth and Isadora while they sniggered childishly with each other. Harriet kept her face stony, staring fiercly into space. Sonya smiled tightly at Lise, cocking her head to the Box. Lise nodded, understanding as the two took a step in unison away from the group and closer to the edge of the Box, close enough so that the ground rumbled from where they stood.

Soon enough, the Box had arrived, and with it a new Glader. Lise and Sonya took each end of the metal grates, and pulled them open while extending their free arms out to the new girl. Small pudgy hands gripped Lise's arm, and a teenaged girl with mousy aurburn hair pulled herself out of the Box. As soon as she had gotten out, the Greenie leaned to the side and vomited all over the grass. She retched and spluttered before turning back to the girls, no sign of embarrassment written on her round face.

"Welcome to the Glade." Harriet said, stepping forwards to address the new girl. "Do you know what your name is?"

"Uh huh." The girl said happily, too happily for someone who had just thrown up a moment ago. "I'm Marie."

She beamed at all the girls, and then promptly fainted.

Isadora scoffed, and then headed back to her kitchen, pulling Beth along behind her by the wrist. Elena whispered softly into Frankie's ear, and the girl visibly relaxed. Emilie rolled her eyes and muttered indescribably to Harriet, who jerked her head at the newest Glader's body. Sonya bent down silently to pick up the girls heavy frame, gesturing for Lise to take the other side. She was hit with a wave of nostalgia, a warm memory of her and Sonya taking out the firewood on her first day. Sonya had yet to tell Lise about the nightmares she had witnessed that night, but Lise knew she was getting closer. One day, one day soon, Sonya would tell her, and maybe Lise could confide her own secrets with the girl.


	8. Chapter 8: The Code

**This story is actually coming to a close pretty soon, just gotta wrap up some stuff. Like - I don't know - the ending?**

 **Heh, enjoy.**

* * *

Years had passed since Lise had first arrived at the Glade, so long that she had stopped counting the days.

The Glade had evolved drastically in the past two years. The Homestead was still the main building in the Glade (though it had been expanded to house a separate weaponry room as well as firewood storage) and _Isadora's_ had developed a small cluster of wooden benches around the front where some of the Gladers liked to enjoy their breaks or eat the lunches served at exactly 1PM. There was a separate building which had not been named which served as a butchering post for the animals - only the Slicers went there as the rest of the Glade tended to avoid watching the animals be prepared for their evening meal. There was a specialised toilet block (Which had been dubbed by Sonya as 'the Loos') where once a month, certain girls would spend their time howling in pain for a week, cursing with every unique and colourful Glader-seasoned word they could sprout from their tongues. It was a week of doom for every other Glader, who stayed as far away from the suffering girls as they could without outright avoiding them. There was also a refurbished medical wing stationed at the brim of the Deadheads, run by Marie and Elena, two of the oldest Gladers. They kept a tight ship, and treated all of their patients with furious care and perseverance, saving countless lives through their fierce assurances that the patients would survive. Within the abandoned Deadheads, there were two sites worth mentioning. There was a humble graveyard, tended by all of the Gladers on a constantly revolving shift. A small hut was also located in the cluster of trees, only accessible to the runners. Lise was currently inside the hut (dubbed by Beth as 'the Hideout') rifling through a chest with Sonya, her closest companion in the Glade.

The two girls worked in a tense silence, pulling folders of paper out from their carefully archived positions. Lise lay them out on the floor in date order, from the oldest records of the Maze's changing walls to the newest ones they had collected that very morning. The oldest ones were yellowed with age and curled at the ends, and were so delicate Lise felt like they would shatter like glass at her touch. Sonya had a piece of blank paper, and was feverishly scribbling notes onto the surface as she followed the order of Lise's papers, apparently finding sense within the paper full of sections and lines. Lise worked her way around the room, gently placing each map on the wooden floor, relaxing into the systematic pace of her work. She trusted Sonya, and knew the older girl wouldn't make her do this for no reason. When Lise placed the last piece of paper onto the floor, Sonya let out a satisfied sigh, crouching down so she was eye-level with Lise, who was kneeling against the ground.

"D'you see this, Lee?" Sonya said in a quietly excited voice, its tone charged with an electric current. She gently waved the paper she had been writing on - scrawled with feverish numbers and lettering - in front of Lise's nose. Lise squinted at it, trying to make sense of all the foreign lettering. She shrugged at Sonya, who's smile never faltered. "This is the answer to all our problems!"

"Will it get us out of the Maze?" Lise said drily, not expecting an answer.

Sonya stretched to her full height and cocked her head to the side, letting her blond hair tumble across her face. "Ya never know." She said lightly, scrunching the paper up into a ball in her fist just as Harriet entered the Hideout with the other Runners. She, Joy, Eliza, Virginia, Flo, Clara and Laura all trudged through the open doorway, pulling tattered sheets from their rucksacks.

Sonya looked at Lise, furrowing her brows.

"Where's Rachel?" Lise translated for the other girls, watching as their faces paled slightly at the mention of their most peculiar Greenie yet. Rachel was the newest Greenbean in the Glade, and had disrupted the peaceful resilience the girls had spent two years developing from scratch. She drew all of their attention, with her flaming red hair, sparrow like frame, and dangerously sharp expression, which took most of the girls' eyes off of their individual duties and requirements and brought them to her ferociously adamant posture. She was stubborn, and refused to abide by any of the rules Harriet had established. She was also extremely smart, curious and rebellious, threatening to run into the Maze by herself if she wasn't taken out there immediately. She had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, and was desperate to discover anything and everything she could about the Maze and its inhabitants. She had gained a few enemies, namely Isadora and Beth, who had a senseless hatred for her, borne from Beth's supposed recognition. This had made her immediately likeable to Lise, and Sonya had also taken an interest to the new girl, commenting on how she reminded her of a puppy, some phantom from her distorted memories.

"What's goin' on, Harriet?" Sonya said, pushing the ball of paper deep into her pockets. She cast a sideways glance at Lise, who started tidying up the paper as soon as she'd gotten Sonya's subtle jerk of the head.

"The dumb shank got herself stung." Harriet said stonily.

Lise paused closing the chest and Sonya's eyes widened comically. Both girls gaped at Harriet, who grunted.

"I'm sorry," Sonya questioned, her voice raising its pitch dangerously. "She bloody _what_?!"

A stinging wasn't a common occurrence for the Gladers. They were extremely cautious, and had an efficient protocol which included scouts to make sure there were no Grievers ahead of the planned Maze track. For a stinging to occur, the stung female must have gone rogue and attempted to run the Maze on her own.

Flo - one of the scouts - stepped forward, drawing the eyes of the whole group to her. "So you know how she basically forced us to let her come?" Lise and Sonya nodded, Lise with an eye roll and Sonya with a smile. "Well, she asked us straight-up about Grievers."

Virginia continued, taking advantage of the heavy silence. "So I say to the slinthead, 'how the shuck do you know about Grievers?'"

Clara chipped in as well. "And she glares at us like we're the dumbest shanks in the whole Maze, then she tells us she wants to see one."

"But not just see one." Joy began, interrupted by Eliza saying; "She _wanted_ to get _stung_."

Laura finished the conversation solemnly. "And she got what he wanted."

Sonya and Lise stared at Harriet, waiting for the leader and Keeper of the Runners to add a statement. Harriet lifted her gaze to Lise with an icy cold stare, then moved along to Sonya. When she next spoke, Lise knew she was directly addressing her second-in-command.

"She brought us to this hole."

" _Hole_?" Sonya seemed to know what Harriet was implying, as her mouth parted slightly, and her fist closed tightly around the spot where the crumpled piece of paper was stored in her jean pocket.

"So." Harriet confirmed. "I think it has something to do with what you told me earlier, and what you and Lise," She flicked her gaze briefly in her direction. "Were doing just now."

"Well either way, we're goin' to have to send some wanker out there at night to check on what she showed you."

"Yeah, they'll be out all night."

All of the runners blanched, the mere mention of night setting their hearts racing. No person could survive a night alone in the Maze, and it was obvious what Sonya was clearly referencing. Someone would be sent outside into the Maze, at night. Nobody wanted to die, and that was a death sentence.

Virginia scoffed. "No way any of us are gonna camp out with the Grievers, H. Get the shucking Greenie, she's practically volunteered already."

There was a murmur of agreement from the other Runners.

Harriet pinched the bridge of her nose, thinking, considering. "We'd need someone else though, and none of you shanks are brave enough."

"I'll go."

Lise was shocked to hear those two words escaping Sonya's mouth.

"I'll go alone with her. Tonight." She smiled tightly at Lise, assuring her that they would make it back okay for the next sunrise. "But I gotta go pee in the loos, so later."

Sonya turned to Lise and pulled the crumpled paper out of her pocket and pressed said paper firmly into Lise's hands. Lise clutched it tightly, watching helplessly as the older girl pushed through the throng of runners and made her way to the door. She turned at the doorframe and smiled, her silhouette illuminated in gold.

Lise had never felt more terrified for her friend.


	9. Chapter 9: The Code II

**And on we go!**

* * *

Lise felt her heart twist painfully as she watched Sonya enter the Maze with Rachel, the fiercely independent Greenbean. It was five minutes from closing time, when the gates would make their slow ascent across the grass, locking the Gladers in their safe haven and forcing everything else out into the cold, unforgiving Maze. Sonya had volunteered herself forward with shocking bravery, offering herself to the Maze like a sacrifice. She had announced that she would spend a night in the Maze - A Maze where the Keepers would coldly banish those who broke Harriet's fatal rules to be prey for the Grievers - with a completely new Greenie, who was a stubborn rebel no less. For approximately two years, there had only been useful girls brought to the Glade, women with varying skillsets and strengths who could support the Glade wherever it happened to need the most support. Then suddenly, out of the blue, a complete rogue enters, unable to abide by the carefully constructed laws, destroying the peace they kept with every determined step. A familiar rumbling sounded, and Lise focused her eyes on Sonya, now merely a blond dot in the distance. Rachel - easily viewable with her flaming red hair and defiant stature - was a few paces ahead of Sonya, and shifted her feet, impatient for the blond to follow. Sonya stayed planted on the ground, and Lise would have liked to imagine that Sonya was staring at the Glade - staring at _her -_ and making a silent promise to return. The walls began to close, creaking deafeningly as they scraped across the grass, attracting to each other like magnets. As the walls slid to a close, Lise raised her hand upwards, to Sonya, to herself, and then to the ground, she then reached outwards, and then finally pulled her hands to her chest.

 _Look at the stars. You and me. I'll be here, in the Glade, and you better return._

She knew Sonya wouldn't be able to hear her from the distance, even if the Maze _wasn't_ screeching horribly in its reluctance to shut them out from its cruel inhabitants. She just hoped that Sonya would be able to understand what she was trying to convey, even if it was in a frenzied and impromptu way of communication.

Just as the Maze closed Lise off from the rest of its endless chambers, Sonya reached out her hand, stretching out minuscule fingers, barely a glint of light in the compressing darkness.

 _I will._

Then the Maze walls closed, the sliver of ethereal moonlight enveloped in the cold, dark night. Lise turned away from the Maze, forcing her shallow breaths to slow and her heart to stop thumping so rapidly. She made to walk away from the walls and into the centre of the Glade where the usual crowd was gathering - a strong bonfire set out in a ring of stone where the girls would laugh raucously and sing and dance - but found she couldn't move. Her feet were planted firmly in the grass, and her limbs were not responding to her will. They remained stiff, stubbornly refusing to move. Lise grit her teeth and set her jaw - she could not stay out here all night. If she stayed at her stoic station just within the Glade's boundaries beside the Maze, she'd freeze to death long before Sonya and Rachel returned. And they would definitely return, because Sonya had said so. Lise had to move. There was no point getting hypothermia when she could be sitting comfortably at the bonfire, perhaps even talking with some of the girls. She knew Harriet quite well, and Emilie, Elena and Marie weren't all that bad. She could talk to them comfortably, and clear her mind with distractions for a short while before they all decided to call it a night. Beth and Isadora were out of the question; Beth had grown cold since attaching herself to that girl, and barely spoke to anyone else anymore except for a select group of followers. Lise had to stay far away from them, no matter how close her and Beth had once been the new Beth was not a good person.

Lise set her jaw, and forced her legs to move. Reluctantly, they did. She slowly made her way to the blazing bonfire, where a large amount of girls were already accumulating. A warm orange light washed across the Glade, soaking all the girls in its soft glow. The Gladers were all together, yet in individual separate groups. The runners and the scouts stood together, talking in sombre hushed sombre tones and casting shadowed glances at Lise; the Slicers - featuring Isadora and Beth - were surrounding the fire, dangerously close and taking turns pretending to shove the other girl into its boiling depths; Marie, Elena, and the other Medjacks were clustered messily together a fair distance away from the fire, taking turns to describe in fanatic detail the most dramatic injury they had to heal; Frankie stood furthest away from the group with Emilie and a mousy girl named Ada, and they leant into each other tightly, gossiping in nervously excited tones about Sonya and Rachel.

Lise pushed her way through the separate throngs of girls, and stumbled over to the Gladers. They all tensed, every single one of them arranging their faces into bewildered smiles and blank expressions, all except for Harriet, who stepped forward with narrowed eyes, the heat from the bonfire flaring within their dark depths.

"What were you doing with Sonya?" Harriet said, the questionable tone in her voice direct and blunt. At Lise's furrowed brow she continued; "Today. In the Hideout."

Lise felt the crumpled piece of paper in her pocket, heavier than before. Her fingers itched to take it out, read through Sonya's scrawls, and discover the message she was sure was coded somewhere in-between all the random lettering. Instead of doing that, Lise averted her gaze from Harriet, finding it drawn to Flo, who had also taken a step forward at Harriet's side.

"You can tell us, slinthead." Flo teased, throwing Lise a sly wink. "We aren't squeamish."

The Runners snorted. Lise smiled along with them, only slightly embarrassed by Flo's jab - Flo was just a very forward girl.

"I'll ask again." Harriet said stonily, her eyes drifting down to Lise's own pocket. "What were you doing?"

Lise trusted Harriet, she did. Harriet was probably the most likely person able to decipher Sonya's mysterious scrawls. She probably knew exactly what was written on the paper, and just wanted to see it for herself instead of relying on pure memory. Sonya had probably already shown Harriet the paper.

It was these thoughts that lead Lise to pull the paper from her pocket, straighten it out slowly, and hand it into Harriet's outstretched hand. The leader pulled her hand back to look at the strange inscriptions. Just as Lise had predicted, her eyes cleared with understanding as she read the lists of numbers, scrawled messily in columns and rows scattered across the paper.

"It's a pattern." Was all Harriet could mumble quietly before turning on her heel and darting towards the Hideout.

* * *

The next day, Lise could barely keep her eyes open, much less stare intently at the Maze walls, willing them to open quickly.

She had spent the entirety of last night in the Hideout with Harriet, Virginia and Eliza, sorting through all of the Maze routes ever logged. As they worked - placing them in date and column order - Harriet had explained the meaning behind Sonya's scrawls. She had cracked the Maze. In the most basic form, the Maze was a repeating pattern - the walls changing in a weekly rotation, each section opening on a controlled basis. Sonya had figured that they were comparing the wrong thing. For years the Runners had been comparing each section of the Maze by its daily changes, and nothing had happened. It was because they were comparing it to itself, over and over again. Sonya had proposed they compare the sections to other sections, something they miraculously hadn't thought of. Harriet had reasoned that they needed as much information as they could get, so running the Maze each day was necessary. Sonya had proved that each individual _day_ was not important - it was not even each individual section - it was piecing them accurately together, like a puzzle. Sonya had written out on the paper the order she had discovered, her theory that the Maze may be trying not to construct numbers, but words. Harriet had fiercely instructed Virginia and Eliza to pull out each section's entry from the past ten days or so, and then directed Lise to overlay them carefully, as she had practiced with Sonya. Lise worked diligently, glad for the welcome distraction from the coil of worry writhing in her stomach for Sonya. Lise placed the sheets on the floor in the order she had done with Sonya, and began to see the illegible lines match up. Harriet had let out a cry of joy, and Lise, Virginia and Eliza had gaped at the letter that stood out to them, right in the centre of the paper. It was the letter F. Harriet had concluded that Sonya's theory was correct, and joined Lise and the scouts at their work, racing to discover the rest of the words waiting for them. They managed to uncover FLOAT and CATCH before Harriet reluctantly called it a night, releasing the girls so they could catch a wisp of sleep before waking hours, where they would await Sonya and Rachel's slim chance of return before getting back to the work they had started.

Luckily for Lise, she didn't have to stare at the unmoving walls for too long. The rumbling had started again, earlier than usual. Lise blinked, and braced herself to see the walls part, and to rush to Sonya's side. That was if she had even made it through the night with the reckless Greenbean - Rachel - dragging her through the dark pathways of the Maze. The strange thing was, the walls didn't part. Lise waited for the rumbling to cease, or for the walls to start their deafening trail across the grass, opening the Maze up for the rest of the runners. The rumbling and clanking only grew louder, until it was clear it wasn't from the Maze.

It was the Box.

It wasn't supposed to be coming up. The Box should have been gone by now, disappearing back into the great expanse of darkness from which it came. The girls had once tried to escape _down_ through the Box, but it had refused to move. Once it was gone they had tried lowering Jane down with rope, but that had not ended well. The point was, the Box shouldn't be returning so quickly. Everything about its routine was planned, from the monthly Greenies to the stocks of seed when food was at a shortage - nothing was spontaneous. But suddenly the Box was returning - randomly - just after the girls had uncovered key information about a message the Maze had been trying to communicate with them.

Lise felt her feet flying across the Maze long before she realised she was running. The years of marathoning across the Maze had taken its toll on her, and Lise reached the site of the Box within a minute, which was extremely fast considering the Box was on the other side of the Glade. Lise wasn't even panting, she watched the Box rise from below the ground with rapt attention, pretending not to hear the wailing and creaking it made on its tremulous journey. When the Box had settled, Lise peered into its contents, pushing off the metal grating onto the floor. By now, a crowd had circled around her. Girls staring at the early Box with a mix of fear and anticipation, waiting for Lise to announce what was inside. She focused her eyes on a form curled in a ball on the ground, much like she had when she first arrived, and watched the features of the form sharpen. The body was thin and distinctly masculine. Masculine as in male.

Lise turned to the girls huddled around her; she turned to the sea of faces all latched onto her, staring expectantly.

"Um," Lise said tentatively. "I think it's a boy."


	10. Chapter 10: Aris and Frankie

**This is the last chapter. I think. Probably. Eh, most likely not.**

* * *

Aris was a fairly young boy, of around seventeen years old where Lise suspected she herself was nearing eighteen. He was lanky, and seemed taller than most of the girls. He had long dirty blond hair which hung over his face like a curtain, covering his masculine jaw and wide eyes. He held himself like glass, as if he were able to be shattered into thousands of minuscule shards and pieces with barely a touch. It was in this way that he seemed so delicate, cowering from the girls who surrounded him at the lunch tables stationed outside _Isadora's._ The less intelligent girls were fawning over Aris, hanging on his every nervous utter. The Scouts were more suspicious, and quietly observed Aris from a safe distance of a few tables away from where he was currently perched. Isadora and Beth were in the front row, bombarding the boy with furious questions about any memories they could force out of him by sheer will. Lise slowly approached Aris' crowded table, manoeuvring her way through the throngs of girls while straining her ears to hear the wisps of conversation passing through.

"Are you sure?" Beth was demanding, leaning invasively into Aris' face. He drew back, and Lise felt sorry for the boy. She elbowed her way closer, listening for the confrontation she was sure was happening.

"Yes." Aris said in a quiet but determined voice, looking Beth straight in the eye. "I swear on my life."

"Uh huh." Isadora butted in, flicking her glossy hair over one shoulder. "No-one here remembers _anything_ , what makes you any different?"

"I don't know." He said carefully, sensing the threat in her directory tone. "I don't know what it means, and it's all fading so quickly."

Beth raised her eyebrows, scowling darkly. "So, stick? You could tell us every minute detail an hour ago."

Aris let out an exasperated breath, searching through the crowd, his eyes scanning past every Glader. As his eyes flitted past Lise she smiled at him, hoping to provide the boy being targeted with at least a little confidence. Aris smiled gratefully, his eyes misting over. He rubbed his eyes without a trace of shame, and Lise decided then and there that she liked him.

"I just need to talk to Rachel." Aris implored, casting a hopeful look around at the crowd. "Where is she?"

"Rachel is running the shucking Maze, the slinthead." Isadora muttered.

"What?"

"The Greenbean literally forced us to let her go out there last night, after she'd just been stung no less." Beth finished sourly, no trace of sympathy in her cold tone.

"But she needs to know, I need to talk to her-"

"Talk to her about what?" Isadora smirked. "The cryptic messages left in your brain? Sorry stick, you're most likely just jacked up there." She tapped the side of her head, crossing her eyes.

Aris' face scrunched in confusion, the foreign word not registering in his brain. "She's got to know what it means." He said slowly. " _He's the last one, ever._ Why would this be in my mind, and nothing else be there except for Rachel?"

"You see," Beth said, danger intertwined with the snarl she wore. "Most of us have no memories. So don't you go thinking you're off worse then the shucking rest of us, you got that Greenie?"

Aris opened his mouth to speak, his face wide with surprise and apology, but Beth continued, cutting him off.

"Unluckily for you, you damn stick, I actually remember some stuff." Beth pulled back her greasy hair, revealing the gruesome scar tracing its way from her ear to her jaw in a long jagged line. "I got this facing off against a Griever. Because I was stupid." She paused, closing her eyes to block out the painful memory. "It didn't sting me like it did your Rachel, but it scarred me enough to bring back some memories." Beth narrowed her eyes, their murky grey depths freezing. "You were there, stick. It was you, Rachel, and two other kids."

Aris paled. His eyes widened and his bottom lip quivered as he stared helplessly at Beth, looking as if he would burst into tears at that very moment. He shook his head, ever so slightly, denying what Beth had claimed. Lise looked behind her, and saw Harriet and the Scouts staring at her. She began to walk backwards, lingering in her reluctance to let Aris deal with Beth's senseless fury alone.

"You guys were working with them." Beth said quietly, in a hiss laced with a feral venom. "You were working with the sh _ucking_ creators."

Aris didn't say anything, but held Beth's gaze, biting his lip.

"So why are you really here?" Beth asked. "Why did you decide to pay us a visit?"

Lise felt a cold hand grasp her elbow, and she was pulled swiftly backwards out of the tightly-knit crowd. Once she had been freed from the deathly grip on her elbow, Lise whirled around to face her abductor. It was Harriet. Harriet wore a worried expression, so different from the neutral face she had portrayed throughout the Glade and the euphoric expression she had infected the others with during their group scout-and-runs. Harriet seemed to have broken off from the scouts, as the rest of the runners were multitasking between watching Harriet and Lise's exchange and observing the peculiar behaviour Beth was exulting.

"What did you hear?" Harriet said sombrely, an edge to her voice. "Tell me."

Lise relayed the information she had heard from Aris, both his claims of knowing Rachel and the cryptic message apparently displayed in his mind. She mentioned his rapidly fading memories, and also said in a hushed tone how Beth had accused him of being with the creators, and how Aris had failed to state his denial in words.

" _He's the last one, ever._ " Harriet whispered, scrunching her eyes shut. "I was afraid this was going to happen."

Lise wasn't sure she wanted an answer, but she couldn't resist asking; "What?"

"The Box hasn't gone down yet." Harriet said, biting the inside of her gum. "It should have gone down."

"So what?"

"So," Harriet said pointedly. "The new stick is the last ever Greenie. There's no more."

Lise felt her jaw drop. The Box had provided everything they needed, whenever they were in a dire need. If it wasn't going back down, they would get no more supplies, and eventually they would run out. There wouldn't be enough food, or medicine. If there were no more Greenies coming down, what could that mean for the Glade? What _did_ it mean for the Glade?

"What do we do?" Lise said quietly.

Harriet shook her head, clearing her thoughts. "We need to keep moving. The two words we discovered are a start. If the Maze truly is a code, then we need to crack it. Quickly."

Lise nodded. "But what is the code used for?"

Harriet pinched the bridge of her nose. "Rachel and Aris might know, if what Beth was saying is true. I think we need to talk to them."

Harriet was putting her hope in her faith that Sonya and Rachel would arrive back to the Glade in one piece. Lise was valiantly attempting to keep her fear at bay, but even she knew that the odds of the two of them surviving a night in the Maze were next to none. Faith and hope were powerful ideals though, and Harriet was the smartest and most level-headed person Lise knew, so she wouldn't assume anything without assurance, or with a strong chance in her favour.

Harriet knew what she was doing.

The leader set her jaw, and looked directly down at Lise. "You and I will uncover the rest of the code, as we know how to overlay the different sections. I propose that you invite two scouts who will not be running today to help." Lise nodded, feeling her gaze drift towards the Maze walls, the walls that should open anytime soon. Harriet noticed her gaze, and turned to face the walls as well. "When Sonya and Rachel return we should let the shanks rest for a while." Harriet continued in her gruff voice. "As they rest, somebody who can be trusted should interview Aris, and then one of us can interview Rachel when we're done."

Lise agreed, glad Harriet was able to take control and responsibility in the situation. Some people - when faced with an issue as serious as they were facing now - would crack under the pressure, and abandon all those depending on them. Harriet had not volunteered to run the Maze this day, and that showed how she was done running away from her problems. Harriet had finally realised the Maze was not a place of solace; the Maze could not take away the fears, on the contrary, it was where all the fears dwelled.

"Now," Harriet said, glancing at the scouts watching their conversation with feigned disinterest. "Who d'you think is the least jacked one out of them?"

Lise looked at her peers, all staring at her intensely now, their previous bliss having completely vanished. "I don't know." She said weakly, unable to choose between her friends.

The names Harriet called were surprising to Lise, especially since they were not part of the scout/runner group. "Frankie, Elena!" Harriet shouted.

Lise watched with genuine interest as the two girls seemed to appear from thin air, approaching Harriet with confident strides. Of course those two would be asked to help uncover the codes; they were smart girls and some of the oldest living Gladers.

"Hey Harriet!" Frankie said perkily, eyeing Aris from the corner of her eye.

"Hi." Elena said bluntly, but not unkindly.

Harriet didn't waste anytime, and explained the whole concept of the Maze being a code within two minutes straight. Elena was bobbing her chestnut head along with Harriet's words, completely focused and absorbing the information while Frankie nervously fidgeted, pretending to pay attention. Lise made a mental note to explain the overlaying at least three times to Frankie, to make sure she adsorbed all of the precious information she had been given. When Harriet had finished explaining the plan to Frankie and Elena, the leader turned to the scouts, who were grumbling half-heartedly about running the Maze.

"You guys need to be extremely careful." Harriet said. "The Maze is not safe right now, got that shanks?"

"Was it ever?" Flo muttered, before sullenly heading towards the Homestead, leading the rest of the runners to get their rucksacks, weapons and general provisions.

Lise heard the soft crunching of grass. She twisted her head to see Aris approaching them, tentatively rubbing the nape of his neck. He glanced at the girls through his shrouded eyes in silence, before awkwardly shifting feet and flitting his gaze to the floor.

"Got something to say, Greenie?" Elena said, folding her arms over her chest protectively.

Aris coughed into his fist, and then moved his surprisingly steady gaze from girl to girl. "I want to help."

Harriet cocked her head, a bemused glint in her eye. "Why?" She said.

"Because I know I triggered something." Aris said quietly. "It's the end. I know it is."

Harriet's glint died. Her dark eyes became unreadable once again, and she was as closed off as ever. "Tell us what you know about the Maze."

Aris took a deep breath. "My memories are fading." He said solemnly. "I can't remember much. But I think we watched you, me and Rachel. We were in charge of the Maze..." He paused, his face distorting with pain. "I think... we helped build it."

There was an awful silence. Lise was shocked, why would Aris help build the Maze? Why imprison people inside a cage filled with mechanical monsters? The Maze was a terrible place, a place where many Gladers had died in attempts to get out of its treacherous clutches. If Aris had helped build the Maze, he must have known the reason why they were put in it, and what they had done. He might even know what had happened to their memories.

Just as Lise was about to open her mouth to speak, to press Aris for answers to questions she never thought she'd be able to ask, Harriet spoke.

"Then you should know the Maze extremely well." She said, completely disregarding all the answers Aris might hold to the reasons why they were put in the Maze.

"Subconsciously." Aris mumbled, just loud enough for Lise, Harriet, Frankie and Elena to hear him.

"Then you can help overlay the maps." Harriet decided, fixing Aris with a hard stare. "You _do_ want to help us, so?"

"Um, yeah."

Harriet nodded briskly. "Okay then." She addressed their whole group. "Let's go to the Hideout. With this many people we should be done with those maps in no time."

* * *

FLOAT

CATCH

BLEED

DEATH

STIFF

PUSH

There were only six words. Aris and Lise had worked together in leading the group's discoveries, determining that FLOAT was the first word, and that PUSH was the last. After PUSH, the cycle would go a full loop without any letters at all, and then start at F from the beginning again. Aris was a hard worker, as determined in working as he was in the way of which he spoke. The first time the loop stopped, Lise had felt compelled to give up, but Aris had compassionately encouraged her onward, telling her that they were on the brink of a discovery, that they were almost there. So they pushed through, together, working on one letter at a time, revising and altering to check they had gotten it right. The six words meant something, but Lise was clueless. She sensed that Aris had an inkling of thought, but judging by the way he bit hard on his lip whenever Lise quietly brought the subject up, his memories were gradually becoming as hazy as her own.

As a familiar rumbling sounded from outside the Hideout, Lise, Frankie, Elena, Harriet and Aris were just finishing packing up the maps into the chests at the back of the room. It was the walls, they were opening. Aris was on his feet, practically flying across the room in his hurry to get out of the Hideout. Lise was on his heels, and Harriet hot on hers. The three sprinted across the Glade, never pausing to catch their breath until they were facing the Maze walls, and watching intently as they ground against the floor, forcing their way apart to let warm sunlight bleed into the Glade through the steadily widening gap in the wall. Lise squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the rumbling to stop before she felt it safe to open her eyes. She was afraid of what she would see.

Harriet let out a cry, and Lise heard a loud thump beside her. She looked through her hands in the direction of the sound. Harriet had fallen to her knees, and she was staring at the now opened walls, her eyes welling with unshed tears. Lise took her hands away from her eyes, and blinked twice. There, framed directly between the two towering walls of the Maze, stood Sonya and Rachel. Rachel looked completely worn out, her red hair plastered across her sweat-drenched face, yet she stood tall. Rachel stared defiantly at the Glade, her eyes blazing with a furious light. Sonya looked in a similar position: her blond hair was tumbling down her shoulders, completely soaked and her clothes were ripped and torn, but her blue eyes shone brightly, a determined light illuminating their depths.

Harriet was smiling, tears rolling down the sides of her face, silently collecting at her jawline. Aris had ran forward, grabbing Rachel and clutching her into himself, and holding her there in a deep embrace. Sonya walked forwards, out from the Maze, beaming. She walked to Lise and Harriet, and took both of their hands in each of hers.

"We're gonna do it." She grinned. "We're gonna escape this bloody Maze."

Lise gulped down all of her fear and anxiety, and let relief flood through her. Sonya was safe, she had survived a night in the Maze, with a complete newbie. She was safe. Safe.

"Rachel!" Harriet called the newest girl by her first name, attracting the red-heads attention. Her head poked out from Aris' arms, and she looked at Harriet expectantly.

"Yeah?"

"You have some explaining to do."

* * *

"How do you know Aris?" Was Harriet's first question in the private interrogation.

Lise, Sonya, Aris, Harriet and Rachel were all in the Homestead, on the top floor where Lise had first awoken. That evening, Harriet had called a brief meeting, in order to assess their situation and figure out what happened on the night Rachel and Sonya had spent alone in the Maze. Rachel had strewn herself on the side of the bed like a bombshell, and was being coolly questioned by Harriet.

"Well, I'm not sure." Rachel answered with a shrug. "I mean, it's just this pull, you know?"

"No." Harriet, Sonya and Lise all said in harmony.

"Well, I guess it's like I know him." Rachel thought aloud, questioning herself. "But then I don't, 'cause I can't actually remember him."

"Alright then." Harriet conceded, casting a glance at Aris over Rachel's last comment. He didn't seem too affected, just a small flinch. "Why did you go get stung for, the other day?"

Surprisingly, Rachel laughed. Her laugh was high and proud, and oozed confidence. "Well. It was kinda dumb." She said, smiling sheepishly. "I just wanted to remember stuff, and I guess I thought I might as well give it a try."

Harriet nodded. "So... What memories did you unlock? Will they help us crack the Maze?"

"Probs." Rachel said nonchalantly. "The Maze isn't meant to be solved. It's not just a test, it's trials." The whole group quietens, hanging off Rachel's decisive wording. "We were all taken when were young, I'm not sure where from, but it probably wasn't a very nice place. But you shouldn't be asking the _where_ , you should ask me _why_. The reason why they took us because we had an above average intelligence."

Harriet nodded along like she had expected all of this, Sonya didn't pay much attention, probably having already been told most of the information already. Aris also looked like he knew what was going on, so Lise had to focus extremely hard, or risk asking somebody else about it later and admitting she hadn't completely understood what Rachel was trying to say.

"But here's where it get's weird. They put us in special schools, but then changed our names. I don't know why. I'm Rachel here, but that's not my real name. I'm named after some shucking scientist."

Each girl/boy in the group quietly pondered what their real name was. Lise thought Lise was an okay name, but that was the only name she could remember from her past, when she had known nothing else. It was the one thing she could remember from before, and it was a lie. The creators didn't let them keep anything, not even their names. Lise felt a cold coil of hate from within her. The creators were evil. Pure evil. They took everything from the Gladers, their names, their memories, their homes. The only thing they had left was their lives, the lives being risked daily to escape the torturous Maze, a Maze that wasn't meant to be solved and had no answer. The creators were evil for doing that, for ruining so many lives, robbing them of their freedom.

"Carry on." Harriet said quietly, an edge to her voice. _"Carry the shuck on."_

"Well, the reason were here is to be tested." Rachel recapped, staring steadily at Harriet. "The creators basically want to see how we'll react to different situations. They call them Variables." She added. "They wanted to see how we'd react to a problem with no solution. I think the objective was to form a fairly independent community."

"Well we've done that." Sonya said, speaking up. "What bloody else do we gotta do?"

"Well..." Rachel said quietly, her gaze dropping to the floor. "You guys aren't gonna like that part. There's the hole me and Sonya here found, and-"

Just then, as she was about to continue on, Virginia ran into the room. Her face was deathly pale and her eyes bulged from their sockets, filled with barely contained fear. She looked frantically around, searching for Harriet. When her frenzied eyes found Harriet's own dark ones, Virginia paused, heaving deep breaths.

"Harriet," She finally said, in a feverish whisper. "The walls aren't closing."

Harriet's eyes widened, but she said nothing.

"Didn't you hear me?!" Virginia shouted, her whole frame shaking violently. _"The shucking walls aren't closing!"_

"This is one of the Variables."

Everyone turned to Rachel, who's green eyes seemed to have dimmed a little. She looked deflated and ashamed of herself, all of her previous confidence having vanished into thin air. She hung her head, and didn't say anything else. Aris nervously separated from the group and closed the distance between himself and Rachel, putting a tentative arm around her shoulders. He must've known what she meant in her sentence, and probably knew about the other Variables as well.

"What do we do?" Virgina implored, staring desperately at Harriet for instruction. _"What do we do?!"_

This time, Sonya was the one who answered for the leader, taking some of the heavy responsibility off from Harriet. "We round up all the Gladers." Sonya directed this at Lise, who quivered slightly at the task she was being given. "We round up the Gladers and put everyone in the Homestead. We give everyone a weapon - anything we've got - and we camp out for the night. Ya got that, shanks?"

Lise nodded, and darted out of the room, noticing Aris duck out behind her.

As she ran, she looked at Aris, who was sprinting determinedly beside her. He caught her staring, but held her gaze with his own blazing stare.

"I want to help." He said in a wavering voice, his tone contrasting with the bright gleam in his eyes.

Lise nodded, and continued to run towards the bonfire, where most of the girls were gathering in a confused clump. The bonfire was blazing brightly, illuminating the terrified expressions mirrored in all of the girls faces as they cast glances back at the Maze walls, which stubbornly refused to close. Lise climbed onto a log that was scattered across the grass, and stood as tall as she could, with Aris standing on the ground slightly behind her. Lise looked at all the Gladers faces, and noticed only a few were missing. This was good, as she could direct almost all the girls from where she stood. The only faces missing were those of Frankie and Elena, the two Gladers that had helped discover the messages hidden within the eight sections of Maze. The two girls were most likely in the Hideout, or at _Isadora's_ , or by the Maze. They could be anywhere. Lise resolved to look for them later, once she had told the rest of the Gladers what to do.

Lise cupped her hands around her mouth, and addressed the Gladers quaking before her. "As you have all noticed!" She shouted over the bonfire's steady crackling. "The Maze walls have not closed!" There were grunts of approval, and nodding heads. "They will not be closing tonight, or probably ever again." Lise's eyes flitted to Aris for affirmation, and he nodded his head slightly. She swallowed the bile that had risen to her throat and continued on. "The Grievers are in the Maze, and who's to say the shucking beasts won't come into our Glade?" The group collectively shivered. Lise dropped her loud tone, and addressed the crowd grimly. She set her jaw. "Tonight is going to be rough, but Harriet and Sonya want us to camp it out in the Homestead. It's the safest place here." Lise pointed to the expanded building in the distance. "Not all of you know me that well - or even like me - but I know you. And I need you slintheads to go. It's what Sonya said."

Quicker than she had imagined, the girls all began to walk in the direction of the Homestead, cowering in a huddle as they edged their way slowly through the Glade, casting long looks back at the Maze. It was never inviting in the first place, but the towering walls looked menacing now, cruelly staring down at the minuscule humans who were terrified at a single gaze. The Maze's shadow enveloped everything but the bonfire, so as the girls retreated, they sunk deeper and deeper into the impenetrable darkness.

Aris and Lise were the only two that remained, standing silently beside the bonfire, letting its warm fire burn through the ice in their stomachs. Lise stepped down from the log, and stared up into Aris' face.

"Thanks." She said, offering him a polite smile.

"Thanks for what?" Aris said innocently, his face scrunched in an earnest confusion.

"You helped gather my confidence a minute ago, and you helped uncover the message in the Maze." Lise said, smiling softly at the boy.

Aris returned her smile. "Yeah. I guess so."

Lise clenched her fists, and squinted into the distance at the Maze. The crackles from the Bonfire were filling the air around them, but Lise was sure she'd hear the familiar scraping of metal against stone before too long. The only thing that had ever stopped the Grievers coming was the routine closing of the walls - how they kept the monsters out and the Gladers in - and now the walls were gone.

"How long do you think we have until the Grievers come?" Lise asked Aris quietly, keeping her eyes glued to the wall.

To her mild surprise, he answered in a sombre voice. "I'd say about ten, fifteen minutes if we're lucky."

Lise knew that Aris had known about the Maze. From his already informed brain to his unsurprised that the Maze walls had refused to close, Lise knew he had expected this. But was it just because of observance, like Harriet, or because he could actually remember, like Rachel? Now wasn't the time for introspecting. Lise had to find Frankie and Elena within ten minutes, fifteen if she got lucky.

"Elena and Frankie weren't with the group." Lise stated. "I think they're in the Hideout." She looked at Aris, who was staring intently at the Maze, his eyes narrowing as if he could make out something in the distance. "I'm going to go find them, but I think you should go back to the Homestead."

Aris started, brought back to the present by Lise's voice. "I'm coming too."

Lise felt a cool relief flood through her at Aris' words, words she hadn't expected to hear. She looked at the Greenie, and found his focus was shifted onto her, and his eyes blazed with a quiet determination. When Lise spoke, her voice was laced with gratitude.

"Okay." She said, setting off at a brisk walk towards the Deadheads, to where the Hideout was located. Aris easily kept pace with his long strides, and they crossed the Glade quickly, ducking into the Hideout as soon as they reached the door.

Inside of the secret room, Elena and Frankie were crouched together, calmly discussing whether they could convince Isadora to give them some of the preserved food, as they had missed dinner, or whether they should attempt to break into her kitchen. It was clear they were in no hurry, and had yet to register the fact that the Glade was now deserted, all of the other girls hiding in the Homestead.

Lise slowly approached the two girls, gesturing for Aris to keep a close watch at door. He did so, lingering at the entrance, his gaze on a constant watch of the Maze walls, his ears alert for the sounds of the Grievers that would be completely foreign to him. Lise would have been better at keeping watch herself, but something told her Frankie and Elena would trust her - one of the first people they'd ever met - telling them to evacuate much more than they would trust Aris - a complete newcomer - telling them to abandon their belongings and run to the Homestead. Aris may not have been the right person to have accompanied her, but he was the only volunteer and it was much better than going alone. In the end, she was grateful for his presence, and the strong perseverance he held. Lise gave Aris a thumbs up he wouldn't see before tapping Frankie on her shoulder. She would react the least violently, with maybe a scream while Elena would swing a punch at her head.

Just like Lise had predicted, Frankie let out a high-pitched squeal. Elena whirled around, her face twisting into a snarl and she was on her feet. It took Elena a moment to realise it was just Lise, and she had taken a step towards her before bursting into laughter.

"Jeez!" Elena laughed, gesturing at her planted feet. "I was gonna take a swing at you, slinthead!"

Frankie stumbled to her feet, beaming, oblivious to Lise's harried expression. "D'you wanna help us steal food from Isadora, Lee?" Frankie said cheerily, sucking the inside of her gum before saying in a mock-serious tone. "You might have to be a decoy though, but we'll save you some bread!"

"Frankie." Elena said pointedly, noticing Lise's grim expression. "I don't think Lise wants to help us steal food."

"Aw!" Frankie pouted. "How come?"

"What's wrong, Lise?" Elena said seriously, looking around until her gaze settled on Aris, who was leaning precariously out of the door, using only the balls of his feet for balance. She jerked her head in Aris' direction. "Is it because of the stick?"

Lise nodded. "It's something that Aris said." Aris tensed at the mention of his own name, and Lise raised her voice slightly, enough for him to clearly understand what she was explaining. "He said that he triggered something." She quoted from memory, repeating the words Aris had mumbled to Harriet, the words she wasn't sure she should have overheard. "The ending, that was what he said."

Elena and Frankie both looked at Aris, who had turned his head to meet their eyes. He nodded briskly, to confirm what Lise had said, then turned back to stare out into the darkness. Frankie and Elena exchanged a glance, before staring back at Lise. With both of their attention solely on her, she explained their rather dire situation.

"The Maze walls haven't closed." She was rewarded with a collective gasp. "They won't be closing tonight, and probably not again. That's what they meant by sending Aris," Lise looked back at him. "He _is_ the ending. The Grievers will be here any minute, so we have to go."

"Where are we going?"

Aris answered Frankie's question by slamming the door to the Hideout shut, and spinning around to face them, his fist firmly clasped around the doorknob. He stared at all of the girls.

"There's a Griever." He said quietly. "What do we do?"

Lise knew she had to make the decision. She was the only person in the room who had come into contact with a Griever, and therefore had the most experience to dealing with one. When she and Harriet had come face to face with the monster in the Maze, Harriet had not even attempted to fight the Griever, but had run for her life, fleeing into the Glade, where they were supposed to be safe. Lise had no weapons, and no idea whatsoever of how to fight a Griever. The only option was to run.

"We're gonna have to sprint for it."

Nobody argued. Frankie and Elena braced themselves, while Aris opened the door by a centimetre so he could look through. He gave a thumbs up, and Lise joined him at the door, gesturing for Frankie and Elena to do the same. Lise pushed her way past Aris to the front, and held up three fingers, unable to speak as her throat was tight and pressing down on her. She took down a finger, and let out a deep breath. She took down another, and smiled grimly at her fellow Gladers. When she took down the last finger, her hand was already on the door, pulling it open with a brute force she didn't know she possessed. Lise darted into the Glade, her eyes immediately finding the Griever stationed at the walls. It's body turned to her, and paused, but this time Lise didn't stop running. She knew the others were behind her, so she pushed on, forcing her legs into a sprint. The Griever began to scuttle, skidding across the grass towards them but Lise continued on, channelling all of her will into reaching the Homestead.

She neared the door, and began pulling at the knob, screaming as she did so. The door wouldn't budge. It was completely stoic, backed up by some force inside the Homestead, making it near indestructible. It had been locked from the inside, most likely barricaded by the Gladers in an attempt to protect themselves from the Grievers. They had forgotten about their peers still in the Glade; they were too late. Lise battered her fists on the door, fruitlessly trying to rip the wood apart. Aris as next to join her, and immediately started to tear at the wood, his attempts as useless as her own. It wasn't going to work. The Griever would get them. It was going to shucking get them. The Griever rounded on the group just as Elena and Frankie appeared. It slowed down, pausing as if to relish the fear reflected in the Gladers terrified eyes. Frankie trembled, and Elena gripped her hand protectively, staring defiantly at the Griever. The Griever advanced slowly, knowing that they were completely and utterly trapped.

"It will only take one." Aris said quietly, his tone guilt-ridden and dark.

Lise didn't take her eyes off of the creature circling round to them. She kept her eyes glued to the machete sticking out of its side and the metal rods with sharpened edges protruding from the soft-looking fleshy underbelly of the creature. "What do you mean?" She said, barely able to hear her own voice through its trembling tone.

"They'll only take one each night. It's the rules." Aris said. "I know about them, trust me."

Aris had risked his life with her, agreeing to retrieve the others even though he knew that a Griever would show up at any second. He had earned her trust through those actions, and he hadn't lied once since he appeared in the Glade.

"I do." Lise said, her voice catching. She stepped forward, knowing that a sacrifice would be due. They would never get out of the Maze without any casualties, for nothing would change unless they gave something up. She took another step towards the Griever, refusing to recoil as it extended a metallic hand towards her.

"Lise! What are you doing?!" Frankie screeched, running up to her and throwing Lise aside.

"Frankie! No!"

It was too late. The metallic hand had curled around Frankie's waist, and was pulling her into the pulsating flesh of the Griever. Lise couldn't scream, she was too horrified. Frankie kicked and scratched, but the Griever didn't yield its grip, suffocating the girl. It pushed Frankie into itself, and then turned, making a slow and deliberate retreat back into the Maze, daring the Gladers to follow. The three remaining people outside of the Homestead watched in silence, unable to utter even a word.

"Frankie..." Elena rasped, her voice broken. She sunk into the floor, and put her face in her hands. She began to sob, wretched, guttural sobs.

Aris looked at her, and Lise noticed how dim his eyes had become, but not at all unsurprised. He knew that this would happen. It was a Variable. Lise sat down, leaning against the doorframe of the Homestead, and patted the grass next to her for Aris to sit on. He joined her, and they watched the stars. The same stars that had been there for two years. Lise closed her eyes, and hoped for either sleep or death to take a hold on her. She wasn't sure if she cared which one.

* * *

 **So I guess this isn't the end. There'll be one more chapter, where I wrap things up and stuff.**

 **\- Azume.**


	11. Chapter 11: The End

**Note: This is the last chapter, and there's a bit of blood near the end, just letting ya know. So if you're squeamish, skip past that.**

* * *

Lise woke up the next morning.

She had survived the previous night, and so had Aris and Elena. Lise had fallen asleep leaning against Aris, and his head tilted back against the door, leaning in such an angle so that her head could fit in the nook between his shoulder and jaw. They had used each other for warmth, bodies pressed tightly together in an almost uncomfortable tangled position. As Lise shifted her aching limbs she tried to separate herself from Aris' body, she wasn't sure where she began and where Aris ended - they were just a mass of flesh and bone, tired and cold. Elena was sprawled on the grass in front of them, her brown hair haloed around her. She was lying face-down, and shivering violently with every shaking breath she took. She must not have slept that night, plagued by the horrible demise of Frankie, the cheerful Glader. Frankie had been taken by a Griever, ripped from the ground in front of their very eyes. She had pushed Lise out of the way, saving her life and ruining her attempted sacrifice. Elena had been one of Frankie's closest friends, and the girl was deep in an ocean of grief, drowning yet refusing to swim to the surface.

Aris let head his head fall from the door, nestling his face into the top of Lise's head. She let him sleep, sympathising with the immense combination of fatigue and undeniable fear Aris must have been feeling. He had barely been in the Glade one night, and had already seen somebody die in front of him, experienced the terror the Grievers radiated first-hand, and uncovered a code that could save the lives of countless people he didn't even know the first names of. Aris hadn't complained once, nor had he shied away from the tasks and responsibility he had been given; he had confidently aided with the evacuation of the Gladers, volunteered to find the missing girls, and provided crucial information which cost one life, but saved three others. Needless to say, Aris deserved a rest. But just as the thought entered Lise's mind, the boy opened his eyes, blearily blinking. His gaze found Lise - who was staring absentmindedly up at him - and Aris sucked the inside of his gum.

"I'm sorry about her." Aris said under his breath, aware that Elena was merely a metre away from them, and could most likely hear everything he was saying. "It's my fault."

"No, stick." Lise mumbled, her throat dry. "It's not."

"You said you trusted me." Aris continued on, stubbornly addressing the topic. "You trusted me and I got her killed."

"Aris," Lise said with an edge, keeping her voice carefully low. "It wasn't your fault. You were saving our lives by telling us that."

Aris snorted quietly. "How?"

"If we didn't know, we would have tried to run." Lise said sombrely. "That would have attracted more Grievers. If we didn't run, we would have tried attacking, and then we'd all be dead."

Aris nodded, his sad eyes looking out forlornly into the dewy dawn.

"Since you trust me," Aris said. "I guess I should be able to trust you."

Lise nodded.

"Well, I have to tell you some things about myself, and about the Maze." Aris took a deep breath, and then spoke slowly, uncertainly. "Me and Rachel, we're a part of the Trials. We helped design the Maze, against our will, but we still did it. I can speak to Rachel in my mind, we have a link." He paused. "It's telepathy, and that's how I know what's going on."

Aris paused to let Lise consider what he was saying. She had only just woken up, yet was being presented with such immense information that she needed to be completely awake. Lise cleared her head - visualizing pushing everything else out of her mind - and thought about what Aris had just said. If it was true, him and Rachel had been communicating behind everyone's backs. That explained how nobody needed to explain to Aris what was going on; it explained how he was prepared for Rachel's interrogation and didn't need to listen - he'd heard it all before. What did that mean for the Gladers? Two of their newest members could communicate telepathically, and had revealed that they helped build the Maze. The Maze that had taken Frankie from them, and had succeeded in haunting their minds, letting fear slither into them and get a clutch on their souls.

"The _creators_ put us in the Maze." Lise said, looking away from Aris and at Elena. Elena didn't move, but Lise was sure she was listening just as much as Aris. " _They_ put us here, not you and Rachel. You guys may not like it, but you're shucking Gladers now."

Aris smiled appreciatively.

"Elena." Lise spoke softly, addressing her broken friend. Elena let out a moan, showing she recognised her voice. Lise soldiered on, feeling her voice harden with resolve. "Elena, Frankie was taken from us by the Griever yesterday." Elena let out a whine, a retched broken cry. Lise felt Aris take her hand, and she continued, knowing the girl had to hear this. "She is most likely dead. The Grievers only take one person per night, and the monster was going to take me." She paused. "And I was going to let him. I was gonna let the shucker take me until Frankie shoved me out of the way. I'm sorry."

Elena rolled over, she turned until her face was in view. Her chestnut hair was plastered on her face, and her eyes were shadowed and dark. Her face was gaunt, and streaked in dried out tears. Elena met Lise's eyes, and glared fiercely. Her face was deathly stony, but her eyes shot daggers that pierced straight through Lise, pinning her in a frozen position.

Elena let out a ragged shallow breath. "You're not sorry." She hissed, venom laced within her tear strained voice. "You're alive, and she's-" Elena's voice broke. "She's dead." Elena let out another moan, and rolled back over onto her stomach, blocking out the rest of the world from her melancholy.

Lise slumped back against Aris, and they stayed like that for a moment. She had told Elena what she needed to hear, and she had said the truth. Elena needed to realise that even though Frankie wouldn't come back, Frankie had not sacrificed herself nor had she meant to die. She was protecting Lise. Frankie had her reasons, and Lise suspected it was only because she was such a good soul. Elena needed to know that Lise felt regret, and knew she should have been the one to die. he Grievers normally only stung, but since Aris had triggered the end, Lise knew they wouldn't show mercy anymore. The Grievers were a part of the Variables, and must have been designed by the creators to test their ability to handle the loss of family. Because that's what the Gladers had become - family. Lise stood up gingerly, reluctantly embracing the harsh cold that came from abandoning the warmth of Aris. She looked at Aris, who was making his way to his feet as shakily as she had, their limbs protesting after being kept in the same position for so long, with no heat except for that of the person next to them.

"What do we do?" Aris said in a low voice, keeping his gaze locked on the barricaded door in front of them. "They've locked us out."

Lise looked up at the sky; it was a greyish orange colour, the sun gradually making its way across the skyline to its favourite position just above the Homestead. Lise guessed it was about half six in the morning, nearing seven. The Gladers would only open the barricaded doors at midday, when they were sure that most of the Grievers would have left and returned to wherever they went during the day. They had around four and a half hours.

"I think you should try to communicate with Rachel." Lise tapped the side of her head. "Through your head-talkin' thing."

"Telepathy." Aris said, scrunching his forehead as he obviously tried to send a message to Rachel. After a moment his face relaxed, and he glanced at Lise with a slight smile. "Rachel's okay, and so's everybody in there."

Lise nodded. "Good that."

"Rachel says that she won't be able to convince them to open the door for a little while." Aris said a little more seriously. "At least for another two hours."

"That's fine." Lise said, already planning out how to spend their extra two hours alone until the others came out. "We can grab breakfast from _Isadora's_ , and then get the bonfire started, and you can fill me in on what Rachel meant by the hole."

Aris nodded along, casting a glance back towards Elena. "Should we bring the food to her? I mean, she doesn't look like she's moving."

Lise shook her head slightly. "She needs to get warmed up, she didn't-" Lise paused and looked over to Aris for a millisecond, who met her eyes with a lopsided smile. "She didn't get as much warmth as we did."

Aris grinned. "Yeah, I guess not."

Lise returned the grin, liking Aris' new playful nature. They had definitely bonded yesterday, and she was glad for the connection they now shared. There were times when they took each other seriously, and times where they could joke like nobody's business. She liked that aspect about him.

The two approached Elena simultaneously, taking one side of her each; Aris took her arms while Lise took her legs. They lifted Elena up (With only a slight groan in protest) and proceeded to carry her to the bonfire. They trudged through the Glade, silently keeping Elena's body level. Upon reaching the bonfire - which was nothing but a pile of abandoned firewood outside of the ring of stone - they lowered Elena to the floor, placing her close to the stone boundary. She groaned, and then rolled onto her stomach, curling in on herself. She shivered, and Aris and Lise realised how cold she must have been last night, with only herself to rely on for warmth.

Lise brought Aris over to the firewood piled beside the stone boundary, and picked an armful of it up, shifting it so it was under one arm. She took another armful of firewood, and hefted it so it was under the other arm. Aris copied her, successfully getting almost the exact same amount of firewood in his arms as Lise had in hers. They stepped over the stone boundary and made their way to the centre of where the bonfire should have sat. Lise put her firewood to the side, and began to build up the structural cage Sonya had showed her to do, placing firewood strategically so that it would catch fire easily but only gradually lose it's flame, meaning it only rarely needed to be topped up for it lasted for such a long time. Once again, Aris copied her perfectly, seamlessly placing the wood in an exact manipulation of the pattern she had created, building up the firewood base and extending it outwards in a spiral. When Lise stopped, Aris was on her heels, stopping just a moment later. Lise knew Aris was still replicating her movements, so words were not needed. Lise took the remaining stack of firewood, and returned to the pile of reserve, smiling as Aris did the same. She searched through the firewood, and Aris helped her, shifting through the heavy logs. Soon, Lise found what she and Aris were looking for. A white cube, and a matchbox. Lise broke off some of the cube, and handed it to Aris. She tossed the cube into the heart of the pile of firewood, and Aris did the same. Next, she took the matchbox and offered it to Aris, extending it with a smile.

"D'you want to light it, stick?" Lise said, watching as his eyes widened.

"Really?"

"So." Lise affirmed with a grin.

"Aw, thanks Lee!" Aris beamed like he had just been presented with an escape out of the Maze. He lit the match with ease, and threw it into the fire, the match landing perfectly on the fire starter cubes. The bonfire lit quickly, and both Lise and Aris jumped back, laughing slightly when they landed in unison on the grass. The warmth was greeting them pleasantly, and Lise and Aris decided to move Elena closer. They lugged the grieving girl forward so she was at a pleasant distance relative to the fire.

Lise figured the fire wouldn't get too hot, considering how the sun hadn't reached its warmth peak yet, and seemed to be climbing the skyline slower than usual. She and Aris would be able to scavenge _Isadora's_ for food in good time, and bring a picnic breakfast back to Elena before she got too uncomfortable. And Elena wasn't unable to move, she could roll away from the fire if she got too hot. Lise looked at Aris, who read her gaze, his perception skills on point.

"We should get food now." He said, voicing Lise's exact thoughts. "There'll be enough time to bring it back as-well, so Elena can have some too."

Lise nodded. "You stole my shucking line."

Aris sniggered. "I don't even know what that word means."

Lise glared teasingly at him, setting off at a jog towards the kitchen. "You should be glad you don't."

* * *

Five minutes later, Aris and Lise were returning to Elena and the bonfire with tablecloth bags filled with food. They set the food down next to Elena, who was now sitting facing the fire, her knees pulled up to her chest. She turned her head to the food, and then suddenly - with a ravenous growl from her stomach - ripped open the first bag. She pulled out a bread roll, and shoved it into her mouth mercilessly, scarfing the roll down whole. She reached for another one, and repeated the process. Lise and Aris had to surrender the first bag to Elena, saving the second bag they had brought. Inside the second bag, Lise and Aris took out a bread roll each and a packet of sliced cheese between them. They ate their cheese sandwiches in a comfortable silence, casting occasional glances at Elena who was massacring the food laid out helplessly in front of her. She hadn't ate the previous night, and was attempting to drown her grief in food. Lise reached into the bag and pulled out an apple. She bit into it, and ate the fruit slowly, relishing the sweet taste it gave her.

"So tell me about this hole."

Aris' face heated up, a rosy blush seeping across his delicate features. He looked _embarrassed_. "Well, me and Rachel made it. It's where the Grievers go, and where we can exit the Maze."

Lise surveyed him carefully, noting his tense body language as he waited for a reply from her. "You're proud of it, aren't you, shank?" Lise said, not nastily. "You must've made it well, if it's taken us two years and a bit to find it."

"Well, yeah." Aris said. "But that's where we've got to go, it's where we put in that code that you uncovered."

"Okay then." Lise nodded. "We can hopefully make it out before nightfall, if Harriet and Sonya think we should."

Aris looked back at the Homestead at the mention of the two leaders. He paused, his whole body freezing for a moment before Aris turned to Lise. His face was fully awake now, and his eyes burned brightly. "Rachel says that they'll be coming out pretty soon."

Just then, a loud thump came from the direction of the Homestead, backing up Aris' speech. Another thump followed, softer, and was accompanied by a loud ripping noise. The Gladers must be taking away the barricades they made, stripping the door from the heavy protection they had hastily applied last night. The scraping continued, and soon the door creaked slowly open.

Harriet walked out first, pushing through the grass confidently and making her way towards Lise and Aris. When she arrived, she gave the two a brisk nod of recognition before shifting her gaze to Elena, who had managed to restrain herself from the food. Elena's face was green, and she clutched her stomach as if it was a beast, out of her control and writhing violently. Harriet walked up to Elena, and leant towards her, whispering something almost silently in her ear. In reply, Elena bent over and vomited to entirety of her stomach onto the grass. Harriet took her arm and lifted her up, supporting Elena with a firm grip on her wrist. Harriet carefully led Elena back towards the Homestead, passing Sonya and Rachel, who had burst out from the door in the meantime.

Rachel had ran up to Aris and clutched his hands in her own, squeezing them so tightly Lise was worried they would fall completely off. Rachel leant her forehead against Aris', and whispered her gratitude that he was alive. It was so uncharacteristic for Rachel that Lise felt unable to tear her eyes away, Rachel was normally so strong and untouchable, but she seemed so vulnerable upon looking at Aris. But Lise did pull her eyes away from the heart-warming reunion, for Sonya had ran up to her, a fierce expression on her doll-like face.

"You buggin' scared me!" Sonya blurted angrily, her face blazing in the light of the bonfire. "What the hell were you doing, stayin' out when there were bloody Grievers around?!"

Lise felt a warmth run through her at Sonya's compassion. The girl had clearly been worried, and it made Lise feel grateful to have a friend as great as her.

"We got locked out." Lise said, not coldly, but stated coolly, as if it was a pure fact (Which it was).

Sonya's face paled, her striking features standing out against her porcelain skin. Her mouth parted slightly, shaping into a slight 'o'.

"Are you sure?" She said, looking briefly back to the Homestead where girls were nervously teetering out, surveying the Glade with wide, frightened eyes.

"Yeah, it was all barricaded and klunk." Lise professed earnestly. If it wasn't barricaded, then they wouldn't have lost Frankie, and they would have been able to get safely inside with the Gladers.

"I know that, you bloody wanker." Sonya said, rolling her eyes. She then fixed Lise with a more serious expression. "I was told that you all were inside the Homestead."

Lise bit the inside of her lip, wondering who would have said that. She and Aris had addressed almost all of the Gladers when they told them that they needed to evacuate, but she hadn't told them about Frankie and Elena. Any one of the Gladers could have thought that they were inside too, and easily told Sonya and Harriet.

"We weren't." Lise said, hearing her tone sound sour. "The four of us were locked outside, and a shucking Griever came along and cornered us."

"Hold your horses," Sonya said, glaring at a nervous Glader who tried to approach her with conversation. "Sod off." Sonya quipped at the Glader, earning a squeak in return and a scattering retreat. "You said there was four of you." Sonya furrowed her brows. "I might be a tad drowsy, but I can only count three. You, Elena and the stick there." She jerked her head at Aris.

"And Frankie." Lise said quietly. Sonya's face darkened with understanding, but she opened her mouth, aching to protest. But Lise cut her off, silencing Sonya with the truth. "Frankie's dead. The Griever took her."

"Seriously?" Sonya said, her closed off expression already expecting Lise's solemn nod. Sonya stayed silent for a moment, before meeting Lise's eyes, no accusatory glare at all. "Is there anything else you gotta say?"

Lise quickly relayed what Aris had told her about himself, about how he and Rachel had helped design the Maze, about their telepathy and about the one person a night rule for the Grievers. Sonya nodded, a look of intense concentration etched on her face. Lise then added information about what she had dubbed the Griever Hole, and Sonya hummed her assent, having seen the hole herself.

"I'll go talk to Harriet, ya hear?" Sonya said determinedly, setting her dainty jaw. "I'll tell her about the buggin' Griever Hole, and try to convince her to set us off tonight." She paused, before explaining herself curtly. "Because we can't have anymore people dyin' on us, see?"

Lise nodded.

"Now piss off, and get your arse over to the Scouts." Sonya smirked. "Ya gotta tell 'em about the Griever Hole, and start roundin' up weapons."

Lise smiled briefly, before ducking away and heading towards the clustered throng of Gladers, searching for familiar faces within the congested crowd.

* * *

"Alright Gladers, listen up." Harriet said in her deep voice, staring at each individual girl (And boy in Aris' case) in turn. Each Glader was equipped with some kind of weapon, be it a spear, a heavy axe or a farming blade. They were shivering in the early afternoon air, waiting in anticipation for Harriet to continue to make her speech. Instead, Sonya spoke up, grasping the crowd's rapt attention with her thick accent.

"You're all scared, frightened, and bloody knackered. I am too." Sonya said grimly, addressing the wide faces looking up at her. "We only just lost Frankie, and she was the purest egg you guys'll probably ever meet." Sonya paused here, to look at Elena, who had whimpered slightly at the mention of Frankie's name. "I'm sorry. But we don't have any shucking time. I'm sure some of you tosses have heard about the Variables - some bloody tests the creators think we are doing. One of them, I like to call the Griever Rule." She took a deep breath. "It means that every night, a buggin' Griever shows up to kill one of us. Only one a night. But this will continue, and go on until we're all dead as squat. We've gotta get a move on, and get out of here before there's none of us left."

There were grumbles of approval, and weapons shifted in hands. Aris and Rachel stood together slightly apart from the group, while Lise hung at the back of the Scouts, itching to sidle up to Aris for solidarity and support. He looked back at her, and smiled grimly, determination laced across his features. Lise broke apart from her group of Runners, and edged her way to Aris, where she stood silently next to him. Lise looked up at Sonya, and willed her face into encouraging look. Sonya seemed to have gotten the message, as she straightened up a little more.

"There's a Griever Hole." Sonya said sombrely. "A home for the Grievers. And we have gotta get in there, ya hear?" There were cries of protest, but Harriet silenced them with a glare, letting Sonya continue to speak. "I don't want to go have a cuppa with the bloody Grievers either, but we all gotta face it. There's a code, and everyone better remember it. Whoever gets closest to the area - a place where you put the code - you put it in first chance. Got that, wankers?"

The Gladers nodded. Sonya looked to Harriet, who stepped forward to deliver the code.

"FLOAT, CATCH, BLEED, DEATH, STIFF, and PUSH." Harriet said bluntly. "It's in that order, don't forget it."

Everyone nodded, and began to make their way to the Maze walls. At the opening, Harriet nodded gravely at each of the girls.

"Whatever happens," She said strongly. "I respect you slintheads."

Harriet let out an animalistic roar, and charged into the Maze, hefting an axe over her head. The Gladers sprinted into the Maze after her, leaving their grassy home abandoned and empty, completely barren, those who brought life into it having left.

* * *

The fight was brutal. The Grievers had expected them all, and were waiting at the Griever Hole when the Gladers arrived. They showed no restraint, and hurled themselves at the Gladers, attacking them viciously with saws and metallic arms. The Gladers were not cowards, and fought just as aggressively back, channelling all their anger at the creators into a battle of pure will. The girls' fury made them reckless, and many of the Gladers were mercilessly ripped apart by the metal rods protruding from the Grievers backs.

The Scout/Runner's had assembled into a tightly knit group with Rachel and Aris included; they made their way towards the Griever Hole in a cluster, sheltering and protecting each other fiercely from the Grievers. Clara, Laura and Flo disappeared, vanishing into the bloodbath. The Scouts pushed onwards, hacking their way fearlessly to the Griever Hole. When they reached it, Rachel stepped forwards, toeing the edge of the wall where it broke off into nothingness. There was only open space, and the dusky sky. She sucked in a breath, and then leapt into the air, stretching her legs out across the nothingness. She dropped like a stone, vanishing into thin air. Sonya stepped forward next, and imitated Rachel, flawlessly springing into the open space, and tucking into herself as she dropped, folding her body tightly as she disappeared. There was no time to hesitate, and each Scout bounded into the open space, disappearing into the Griever Hole until only Aris and Lise were left. Lise turned around and cupped her hands around her mouth, yelling hoarsely at the Gladers still battling the metal monsters.

"Run for it!" Lise screamed at the bloodied survivors, still facing off against the undeterred monsters. "Run and get in here! _Run_!"

Some turned at the sound of her desperate voice, and began to sprint in her direction. Lise nodded at Aris, telling him to get going.

"Be there on the other side." He said in a rush, before pushing off the ground and making his assent into the Griever Hole. Lise stared after him, before shouting hoarsely at the Gladers and jumping in herself.

* * *

The Griever Hole was filled with slime from the monsters' soft underbelly, and was narrow. A rancid stench hung about the Hole, heavy and seeping into the nostrils of Lise. She scrunched up her face, and put her hand over her nose, as if to block the disgusting smell. The room was barren, hauntingly empty. It was a graveyard for the Grievers, and was completely and utterly deserted. Thick glops of slime collected in the corners of the room, and red streaks traced the walls, dry, dark and long. The bloodied walls were the only signs of previous human contact, and the dark red blotches were weak and faded - the Gladers hadn't put up a fight. Along the Griever Hole, at almost the very end of the room was a narrow section separated off from the Grievers' disgusting den, housing a dust caked computer and a thick monitor. A camera hung from above the computer, its red light blinking periodically, recording the Gladers' descent into the Hole.

Aris stood in front of Lise, his whole body tense. He was watching the camera at the end of the room, caught up in some nightmarish memory from his past. Aris must have watched the Gladers for years, on the other side of the glass, passively observing their misery as if it was all a game, as if it was nothing to him. But Aris hadn't been passive; he had done something against the monsters who put them in the Glade, something that had gotten _him_ sent into the Maze, to join those he'd watched both suffer and thrive for two whole years. Rachel had been sent in barely a day later than Aris - she must have helped him do whatever he did in protest against the creators. Far along the room, at the end of the Hole, was Rachel. She was leaning over the monitor, feverishly typing in the code onto the old computer.

Lise heard yells and screams from above, and shrunk further away from the entrance to the Griever Hole, pushing her way to the front of the room, with Aris following at her heels. More Gladers would be arriving soon, and the narrow Hole was filling up extremely fast.

At the computer, Rachel frowned, biting her lip as she pressed the keys harder, typing with renewed frustration. She let out a growl, and pressed the keys again. Sonya lingered at Rachel's side, scanning the computer's bare surroundings with sharp blue eyes.

"It won't let me type PUSH!" Rachel shouted angrily. "The damn thing isn't working!"

Sonya suddenly bent down, and muttered something indescribable to Rachel underneath all the screams. Rachel nodded enthusiastically, her whole frame relaxing as Sonya bent down and reached her hand underneath the computer, pushing a hidden button beneath the monitor. _Pushing_ a hidden button.

Lise and Aris reached the pair just as everything went deathly quiet. All the screams and scraping noises from above had stopped; it was completely silent. No-one dared to breath, if they disrupted the heavy silence, the fighting would break out again, and more Gladers would be lost.

"It said _Kill the Maze_." Sonya stated calmly, breaking the silence.

There was a soft click in the distance, and light flooded into the narrow room, flowing from another pathway that had been invisible in the semi-darkness. Harriet set off in the direction of the light, leading everyone else in a defeated trudge behind her. It was a door, leading into a thin metal chute that lead straight down. The surge of bruised and bloody Gladers dropped down the chute slowly, defeated and completely worn out. The chute was their only exit, and they could only hope that it lead away from the Maze, that it lead to their future. As the Gladers passed her, Lise managed to do a rushed head-count before she, Aris, Rachel and Sonya took turns pushing themselves into the narrow chute. There were thirty-nine people. Thirty-nine Gladers left; at least twelve had perished in the battle. It was too many deaths, there were too many people gone, too many people erased from the world.

Lise fell through the chute, dropping like a stone. Luckily, she had waited for Aris to drop first, and he had moved out of the way when he heard her descent. She fell on the ground, hard, hitting her elbow roughly. Lise felt Sonya grasp her hand, pulling her to her feet and tugging her the front of the new room where Harriet stood defiantly, glaring into the distance. Aris and Rachel followed, joining them and Harriet at the forefront. They were in a low-ceilinged chamber, bathed in darkness and stripped bare. Bulbed lights flickered on an off, shining irregular spotlights on groups of individual Gladers. Much like the Griever Hole, the new room was almost completely bare. All that there was in the room were twenty or so tinged windows, greasy and cracked. Staring at the Gladers through the windows were adults. Men and woman, sickly and pale, writing calmly on thin clear tablets. It was the creators. Aris let out a gasp, and Lise felt her heart clench with sympathy for the boy. He had watched them from one side of the clear glass pane for two years, passively observing the Gladers' daily struggles to make life work, watching them toil and suffer with the safety of someone who was completely separate from the pain of others. But Aris had then done something terrible, something he wouldn't say to her, but something so bad and reckless it had him sent over to the Maze, but as a subject, a lab rat. He had not been passively observing them, he had rebelled. Rachel - being sent down only a day later - must have been a part of their protest, opposing the cruelty the creators pressed on the Gladers whenever they seemed to thrive in the harsh environment.

All of the Gladers looked to Harriet - their leader - who stood silently at the front. Her whole body was tense, and she glared at the adults who sat calmly within the windows with a furious gaze, only succededing in making some of the more flightly ones glance up from their paper-thin screens. Harriet didn't charge on the creators, but waited, anticipating the moment where the creators would finally make the first move. Harriet was extremely smart - she knew that they were completely exposed, vulnerable and open to any attack the creators threw at them. Right now, they had the advantage of numbers, and if they dispersed from their powerful clump the creators could easily pick them off, one by one, just like the Grievers.

As Harriet had suspected, the creators did make the first move. It was signalled with a loud periodical beeping, evenly spaced out and completely calculated, shrill and loud, resounding painfully within the Gladers' ears. The creators looked unperturbed, casting a brief glance over at a blank corner in the bare room before resuming to type data into their tablets. Harriet caught the subtle glance, and whipped her head over to where the creators eyes had just scanned with their blank stares. A moment later, the beeping stopped. In the corner, the blank walls slid back, revealing an almost invisible door opening.

Out from the door stepped a young woman. Her shirt bore the logo of the creators, a logo Lise had yet to forget; W.I.C.K.E.D. The logo represented everything the Gladers were trying to escape from, and everything they all projected their hate and fear and rage at. The woman took a casual step into the room; She surveyed the Gladers, smiling slightly as her eyes settled on Aris and Rachel. Aris sucked in a breath from next to Lise, his whole figure tensing. Rachel gripped Aris' arm fiercely, holding herself up with sharp fingernails, digging into his flesh and drawing blood as she stared at the woman. They recognised her. The young woman smiled warmly at the Gladers, her cold eyes sparkling with unshed tears. She brought a hand to her eyes to wipe away the crocodile tears that had yet to spill, making a show of her 'overwhelming emotions'.

"I am so proud of you all." The woman said pleasantly, flashing a grin at the fuming Gladers. "You have done so well, and with so little deaths."

The woman jerked her head at the door, and to the Gladers instant astonishment and fury, a girl stepped out.

A young girl. A girl with dirty blond hair so grimy and coated in muck that it looked brown. A girl with a strong build and a tall frame. A girl with proud high cheekbones. A girl with murky grey eyes, wide and filled with fear. A girl with a gruesome jagged scar running from her left ear to the bottom of her jaw.

It was Beth.

Beth stood stiffly next to the woman, her whole body rigid. Her eyes bulged, purple veins popping as she stared wildy in front of her, her eyes red and twitching. She looked bruised and bloodied, as if she had been taken from the fresh of the fight, before Sonya had killed the Maze. Her body shook tremendously, yet Beth stayed in her stiff position, like a toy robot.

Harriet took a determined step forward, furiously abandoning the carefully calculated nerve she had gathered in order to stay silent. She spat at the Beth; "Why the _shuck_ are you over there?" Harriet said vehemently, her eyes blazing. Beth said nothing, and a look of utter horror dawned across Harriet's face, disgusted realization clear in her expression. "You're not with _them_?" Harriet hissed venomously, only held back from pouncing on Beth by a trembling Isadora, Beth's closest friend.

Beth didn't reply, but the woman tutted calmly, as if she were scolding children.

"As I was saying," She continued chirpily, acting as if Harriet's furious accusations had never happened. "You have done so well, compared to Group A, who are having some minor... ah, difficulties." The woman paused here, to smile again at the Gladers, her face slipping into a cruel smirk, her features twisting into a wicked expression. The woman caught herself, but only just, and rearranged her face into it's previous plastic mask of happiness. "Now, there's one more Variable-"

"We don't want any more of your bloody Variables!" Sonya burst out, stepping forward so she was at Harriet's side. Lise rose to meet her, grasping Sonya's arm to hold her back just as Isadora was doing to Harriet. Sonya shrugged Lise off, shouting angrily at the woman. "Take your shucking Variables and PISS OFF!"

The woman chuckled coldly, fixing Sonya with a knowing stare. "You may be loud now," The woman said pleasantly. "But you're not nearly as outspoken as your brother, subject B3."

Sonya froze, the haunting memories of her brother forcing their way to the surface of her shell-shocked mind. Lise ached to help her, to reach out to the second in command, but she knew the pain of memories that could not be erased. Sonya was battling her inner demons, and Lise couldn't shield her from that.

"Now, there is one more Variable." The woman continued, undeterred. She pulled a long knife from her waist belt, twirling it in her fingers. The blade glinted evilly in the irregular light, shimmering cruelly. The woman held the knife out to Beth, who reached out jerkily and took it. "Now, Elizabeth dear," The woman smiled. "You know what to do."

Beth sucked in a shallow breath, and brought the knife stiffly back, hefting it at her shoulder. Then she threw it, in a large swooping motion, and the knife flew across the room, towards the cowering Gladers, frozen in a mix of anticipation and fear.

There was a terrible scream. Then deathly silence. And then blood. Lots and lots of blood.

Blood, oozing out of the red stain spreading rapidly across Rachel's stomach. Blood, blossoming from her chest, rich and deep and fatal. Blood, pooling across the flat floor and haloing around her. Blood, soaking up her clothing and plastering her hair across her face. Thick, dark, cruel blood. The knife itself was imbedded deep in her chest, near where Rachel's heart was. The hilt of the blade was furrowed extremely deep in, almost completely submerged in the blood bubbling around it. Rachel's green eyes were flooded with a new emotion: an acute fear, wildly darting around the rapidly fading room, struggling to focus on her blurring surroundings, covered by the red spots that danced in her eyes.

Aris immediately dropped to Rachel's side, his jeans soaking up some of the heavy blood that had pooled across the flat floor. He gripped her hand, and blood poured through her fingertips and into his, spilling through the gaps in their clasped hands. Aris was crying, thick heavy tears, tears that mixed into the blood. He was sobbing now, unable to hold back his emotions for Rachel. She was crying too, but silently, tears rolling down her cheek, disappearing into the ocean of red surrounding her. Sonya rounded to Rachel's other side, with Lise following. Sonya clutched Rachel's other hand desperately, and the blood soaked through her as-well, covering her knees and hands. Sonya's eyes were brimmed with tears, and the second in command looked like a broken china doll. Sonya's tears fell onto Rachel's face, alerting the girl to more Gladers. Lise leant across Rachel to her chest, where the blood continued to bleed out from her, turning Rachel's skin grey, her face pale and strained.

Lise sucked in a deep breath, and took the hilt of the knife. Rachel gasped loudly, and Aris whipped his head around furiously, a feral expression on his face. He didn't understand what Lise was doing, he wanted her to stop. Lise didn't stop though, she couldn't, and pulled. She drew the knife away from Rachel's chest, and was greeted by a fountain of blood to the face. Lise clamped her mouth shut, and pushed her hands onto the wound, applying as much pressure as she could to the wound. She wasn't a Medjack, she didn't know how to stop bleeding, but she could try. If she blocked it, and stopped the flow, Rachel might survive.

But it was obvious that she wouldn't. The girl's face was completely white, and a yellowish tinge had crept up her neck. Rache;'s green eyes had dulled, and her dry lips struggled to form words. Aris was crying; Sonya was crying. Lise felt her eyes burn, and realised she was crying too. Seeing Rachel put up such a fight, to witness her give up now, was truly horrifying. Lise pushed harder on the wound, willing the blood to stop pouring through her fingers, for Rachel's eyes to stop closing. But Rachel's eyes did close, and her breaths stopped, the hammering heartbeat Lise could feel slowing for good. It finally quietened, abandoning life.

Aris let out a deranged howl, and flung himself at Beth, who was restrained by Harriet, the woman had vanished. Beth didn't put up a fight, and Aris tore at her like a rabid animal, drawing his fist back again and again and again. Lise jumped to her feet, slipping on the blood, and sprinted towards Aris, wrapping her arms around him, restraining him as Harriet grabbed a hold on Beth, who was limp. Lise held onto him, her hands barely able to get a grip due to all the blood, but she kept him still, and held him as he roared, then sobbed. Aris cried like someone who had lost his everything, and his voice was raw and broken.

The woman had reappeared at the door, and was smiling ominously, her eyes twinkling. She directed her next sentence at Aris.

"Everything happens for a reason."

Aris spat on the ground.

The room was filled with a heavy silence, the Gladers shocked and scared and angry and furious and tired and done. Done with everything, the Maze, W.I.C.K.E.D, their lives. A loud shouting noise sounded through the open door, and the woman's plastic mask slipped, her spotless face draining of all colour.

A horde of heavily armoured men and women run into the room, surrounding the woman with drawn guns. They cover her from view, surging in through the doors in a rush. The leader of the group approached Harriet, singling her out.

"Come with us," He winced as two gunshots sound. "If you want to survive this messed up world."

The leader of the group turned and sprinted back into the throng of adults, and they exited through the door, not pausing to check if the Gladers were following or not. The Gladers all look at Harriet, who shoves Beth, whimpering, to the ground.

Without a moment's hesitation Sonya speaks up. "What do ya think, leader?"

Harriet grit her teeth. "You shanks better run like your lives depend on it, we gotta catch them up."

With that, Harriet turned and sprinted out the door, a throng of Gladers bursting out after her. Lise let go of Aris and took his hand firmly in her own. Her other hand was grasped by Sonya, the squelch of blood sounding between their pressed palms. The three of them ran out, sprinting to meet Harriet out at the front.

Group B ran after the strangers, placing all of their hope on the armoured adults who would take them away from the Maze, the only thing they'd ever known.

* * *

 **This was so. tiring.**

 **I swear, like, at least 1,000 words just deleted themselves. For no reason.**

 **So this is the end. Maybe one day there'll be a sequel, ya know, with Teresa screwing things up.**

 **\- Azume**


End file.
